


A Little Ways Down the Road

by baeconandeggs, kawnashi



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drama, M/M, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, a lot of unnecessary drama, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 52,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawnashi/pseuds/kawnashi
Summary: Baekhyun doesn’t know what hits him when his soulmate comes crashing into his life in the form laughters, long walks and unwashed hoodies. Especially when he never asked for one.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>   
> 
> **Author's Note:** Hi there, thank you so much for clicking on this fic! This is my very first time ever publishing a fanfiction so please be gentle lol. My dear prompter, I hope I didn’t disappoint you too much. Despite my shortcomings, I really did try my best writing this with the little time that I had, so I hope you'll like what I've written for you. God knows how many times I’ve wanted to scrap this entire thing because it was giving me so much stress and anxiety, but I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad I was able to pull through and finish something for once.
> 
> With that being said I want to thank my absolute angelic beta C, I’m so sorry for literally ghosting you for months. I promise I’ll learn to manage my time better so I don’t send stuff at the last minute anymore. Thank you so so much for putting up with me and doing so much for this fic, I couldn't have done it without you!! And to the lovely mods! I must’ve been so annoying to deal with>< But thank you for being so understanding and patient and giving me the extensions I needed in order to complete this story. I also couldn’t have done it without my support system, H, S, R, M, A and D, thank you, for always believing in me.
> 
> And lastly, I want to thank you, the readers of BAE, for giving a beginner writer like me and this story a chance. I hope I was able to entertain you in some way♡

The streets are quiet on a late November evening. The sound of the snow crunching beneath his feet filled the air as did the smell of pine cones from across the street. The lights fickle feebly as he continues to walk back to his apartment. Baekhyun shoves his hands into his pocket to shield them from the frigid winter breeze.

Usually, the streets of his university would be more bustling with students, either rushing to go back to their dorms or heading out to pubs. But he guesses that tonight is probably too cold for most people to be out.

Which is perfect for Baekhyun, he wants to go back to his warm room, hide under his thick duvet and sleep for a week. Being in his junior year, Baekhyun is long done with the thrill of going out every night and bar hopping, he much prefers to stay in. Especially when his professors seem to be personally going after his ass with the amount of assignments and projects that he has to finish before the end of term.

But hey, no one ever said being an art student is easy.

He just wished he had given more thought into what he wanted to do with his life before committing to a four-year art degree. He enrolled because he likes art, he loves being able to craft and create. It’s always something that he’s been passionate about, that and the major gives him the perfect excuse to get himself out of offers from his friends. Not that he doesn’t like spending time with his friends, it’s just most of them forget how introverted he truly is, he blames this on his tendency to speak in really loud volumes.

Looking at the dark, almost pitch black sky, Baekhyun finds himself enjoying his own company. He likes going on long walks alone just to clear his head but he rarely does so due to the amount of awkward encounters that usually happens whenever he steps out of his apartment.

Honestly, for such a big campus Baekhyun feels like he’s living in a snowglobe where he keeps bumping into the people he knows--or the acquaintances of the people he knows. Hopefully though this won’t happen on such a cold and dark night.

“Baekhyun!”

Of course.

“Byun Baekhyun, wait up!”

Baekhyun starts walking on a slightly faster pace and looks straight ahead. Shit like this can only ever happen to him. On a night so ridiculously cold, that no one wants to even step outside let alone walk, Baekhyun still somehow manages to bump into someone.

As the voice and the owner of said voice was gradually becoming closer and closer, Baekhyun begins to dread that he can no longer pick up his pace. If he’d walk just slightly faster than he had been just now it would have been painfully obvious that Baekhyun is trying to avoid this guy.

Giving up on trying to outrun--or well, outwalk--the guy, Baekhyun stops and turns around to find a guy around the same height as him. Half of his face is covered by a rather thick blue scarf, making it hard for Baekhyun to pinpoint who the guy was from afar.

Now with the said guy finally catching up to him, Baekhyun recognizes the man as Kim Minseok. He also had different coloured hair than when he last saw the guy, it used to be jet black, now it’s a mix of chestnut brown and a tint of gold, “Geez were you wearing headphones or something?” Minseok pants, slightly winded from all the running he just did. He wipes his forehead, Baekhyun’s not entirely sure if he’s doing it out of habit or did he actually sweat in this kind of weather.

“Sorry hyung. I didn’t hear you,” Baekhyun sheepishly smiles. Kim Minseok is a fine young man, he’s a year older than Baekhyun, a senior from the engineering department. He is also the long-time boyfriend and soulmate of Kim Jongdae, who happens to be Baekhyun’s self-proclaimed best friend. A really swell guy that has never made him feel like a third-wheel whenever they hangout. Great, now Baekhyun is slightly guilty for trying to run away from him. Only slightly. 

“That’s fine,” Minseok smiles back, “I’m heading out to PH to grab a few drinks with Jongdae and the guys, you should come.” PH is a popular bar near the campus area. The name of actual bar is Potato Head, but most just call it PH to make it sound less stupid. Personally, Baekhyun refuses to call the bar anything but Potato Head, it sounds even more stupid in his opinion.

“Sorry hyung, I’ve got a paper that I have to turn in on Monday.” Baekhyun lies, he has deadlines to meet but no papers whatsoever. The guys Minseok is referring to probably includes Sehun and some other guys from the science department, and, of course, Jongdae. Their get-togethers usually include a lot of small talk and Baekhyun clearly isn’t in any mood for any of that.

“Are you sure? I hear this guy from the biochem department is performing and they say he’s really good.” Minseok seems to believe him.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, but not even great live music can change his mind, “I’m sure.”

“I hear he’s hot,” Minseok adds, waggling his eyebrows mischievously.

Baekhyun lets out a small chuckle and shakes his head in amusement, “Yes hyung, I’m sure.” He exhales, “I’m sure that I don’t want to mess up this paper just to see some hot guy.” That and the guys at Potato Head are usually creeps. One time Minseok and Jongdae set him up with one of the bartenders and Baekhyun swore, never again.

“He could be your soulmate.” Minseok jokes. Ha, there it is. The inevitable soulmate talk. In a world where the love of your life is determined by what Baekhyun assumes is an all-knowing being, people are always on the lookout for who might be their other half. Baekhyun however, isn’t the biggest fan of the whole thing, he thinks it’s all full of crap. Once someone suspects another of being their soulmate, the first thing they’ll do is try to lie to them, because, a soulmate can’t lie to one another. It’s just how things works, unfortunately. Hence Baekhyun’s one of those rare few that aren’t on a rush to meet their soulmate. Baekhyun just wished Jongdae (and now his boyfriend) would stop offering to do the looking for him.

“I doubt my soulmate is some guy who spends his nights performing in pubs.”

To be fair, no one knows what their soulmate is like. They could be his complete opposite for all he knows, but Baekhyun really hopes that his soulmate isn’t some douchey party boy. Not that it matters anyway.

“Well,” Minseok takes a deep breath. “If you change your mind you know where we’ll be.” He adds, clearly giving up on trying to persuade Baekhyun. “I should go, see you around.”

“Yeah, say hi to Jongdae and the others for me.” Baekhyun replies, slightly relieved that he can now go back to his apartment to escape the cold. He waves Minseok goodbye and jogs back to his apartment, as they went their separate ways, he makes sure to pull up his scarf and keep his head down just in case he bumps into another one of his acquaintances.

Once he reaches his apartment, Baekhyun quickly takes of his shoes, plops down on his beloved brown couch and relishes in the warmth that his heater had to offer. He takes a deep breath and exhales in relief. He has never been so grateful that his apartment had such great features.

He complains a lot about how the two-bedroom apartment is too small for him and his roommate, but it was an upgrade from his previous dorm room. At least now he has his own private bedroom where he can sing and shout to his heart’s content.

Well, sometimes time he could, most of the time his roommate berates him to no end about how he’s too loud even when he’s in his own room. Which is ridiculous in Baekhyun’s opinion, their upstairs neighbors have always been much louder. They have this weird habit of practicing the bagpipes at two in the morning.  _ Who does that? _

“Baekhyun. You’re back.” His beloved roommate says, peeking from his bedroom door, slightly squinting through his glasses, dressed in his usual black t-shirt and black sweatpants.

“Yes I am.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to be back so early on a Friday night. It’s only eleven.” Fair enough, he does usually go out to a PC room on Friday nights, but that was before he got his sweet new gaming PC. Now he basically has no reason to go out other than to go to class.

“I’m tired Soo,” Baekhyun says, still lying down on the couch with both of his eyes closed. “Why? You want me to leave?”

“No, I’m just slightly surprised that’s all.” Kyungsoo sighs, “Do you want something to eat? There’s some leftovers in the fridge.” His roommate is probably one of the reasons Baekhyun has not died out of starvation, the guy has a natural talent for cooking and things that involves the kitchen, hence he’s in charge of making all of the food around here.

Baekhyun laughs, “And here I thought you were hiding someone in your room.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Kyungsoo glares, making his way to the fridge, despite Baekhyun blatantly ignoring his offer.

“You said something about leftovers?” Baekhyun finally asks.

“Spaghetti.”

“I hate spaghetti.”

“No, you don’t,” Kyungsoo says, rolling his eyes, “I’ve known you for fifteen years and you swallow everything except cucumbers.”

That is one hundred percent true. Baekhyun will eat anything as long as it doesn’t have cucumbers in it. Someone can offer him a million bucks to eat cucumber and he still wouldn’t do it.

“I wanted some fried rice though,” Baekhyun shifts slightly, now lying down on his side, “Some kimchi fried rice would be nice.”

“Then make them yourself.” Kyungsoo says, taking the bowl of leftover spaghetti out and setting them down on the dining table. Baekhyun chuckles when he hears the bowl hitting the surface of their dining table a bit too harshly, he literally got on Kyungsoo’s nerves in less than two minutes.

Baekhyun gets up from the couch and sits down in his usual seat, grabbing a fork. “Now, do you really want me to burn down your beloved kitchen?” He can’t even cut onions properly and Kyungsoo expects him to cook? Honestly, Baekhyun expected more from their fifteen years of friendship.

Kyungsoo glares at him, again, as he sits down on the couch, he then proceeds to turn on the TV and begins browsing through random movies on Netflix.

“I bumped into Minseok today.” Baekhyun says abruptly. He didn’t really like sitting in silence, or being silent in general when there’s another person around.

“Jongdae’s boyfriend?” Kyungsoo says, eyes still glued to the TV.

“That’s the one.” Baekhyun takes another bite of his spaghetti. “He wanted me to go to Potato Head with him and the guys.” He mumbles.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Kyungsoo reminds him sternly. Baekhyun rolls his eyes in response. “So why didn’t you?” Kyungsoo adds shortly.

“I wanted to spend time with my roommate.”

“Don’t lie, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun laughs airily and contemplates for a few seconds. “Not really in the mood to socialize, I guess.” He says, not really able to think of any other answer in that moment.

“For someone who isn’t too keen on socializing, you sure talk a lot.” Kyungsoo says, still busy browsing through hundreds of shows and movies.

That was also probably Kyungsoo hinting him to shut the fuck up. Baekhyun admits, he does love to talk. He prefers one on one conversations instead of a group setting though. Talking to a group of acquaintances can be quite exhausting, especially if they start asking personal questions.

His train of thought is then cut short by a rather loud ring and the sudden vibration of the dining table—it is Kyungsoo’s phone.

“Hey Soo, your phone’s ringing.” Baekhyun grabs the phone, curious to see who is calling his friend at this hour--or maybe he’s just nosey. “A Mr. Park Chanyeol is calling you.”

Kyungsoo quickly gets up and snatches his phone from his friend, not forgetting to glare at said friend too. Must’ve been at least the third time his roommate has glared at him in the span of one hour. Kyungsoo then proceeds to walk to the balcony to take his call in private.

_ Chanyeol, chanyeol, chanyeol _ , Baekhyun reiterates in his mind. It sounds familiar but Baekhyun really can’t put his finger on who the guy was, or where he’s heard the name before.

He turns towards the balcony, hoping to get a glimpse of Kyungsoo’s expression while he talks to this Chanyeol guy, but Kyungsoo was never the most expressive person on earth, so it was kind of pointless. “So, what did that Park Chanyeol want?” Baekhyun asks as soon as he saw Kyungsoo was done and back inside.

“He’s coming over tomorrow at noon.” Kyungsoo sits back down on the couch, continuing to browse through his films.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. Kyungsoo is having someone over? Kyungsoo very rarely has people over. In the two years that they’ve lived together in the apartment, he only had one person over and the guy was only here to return one of Kyungsoo’s Blu-ray DVDs.

“Wow Do Kyungsoo is having someone over. This Chanyeol guy must be pretty special.” Baekhyun comments, taking the last bite of his spaghetti.

“Not really, just a guy from my Biology class.” Kyungsoo says, finally settling on watching some random British baking show instead of a movie.

Biology? So this Chanyeol dude must be a science kid, so that rules out the possibility of him being in Baekhyun’s building, but why is his name so damn familiar. “How come you’ve never mentioned him before?”

“Because we only talked a week ago.” Kyungsoo frowns, slightly irritated that he can’t fully focus on his baking show. “He asked me to tutor him on some stuff.”

Baekhyun hums in response. Tutoring huh? Kyungsoo is a good student; he’s diligent and takes his studies seriously—too seriously, in Baekhyun’s opinion.

He would indeed be the perfect tutor, if not for the fact that Kyungsoo isn’t really the most friendly person you’ll meet. Not that he’s a bad guy, just generally intimidating. And to top it all he has terrible eyesight even with his glasses, most of the time he has to squint to see from the distance and people would just mistake it as him glaring at them. Hence, that’s why so many people on campus are scared of Kyungsoo.

After cleaning up, Baekhyun joins Kyungsoo on the couch until he finds himself being somewhat bored on watching cooking shows. Honestly, Baekhyun wonders why Kyungsoo spends so much time browsing through movies and always end up watching some random reality shows. After half an hour of gazing lifelessly into the tv screen, Baekhyun tries to stretch his legs by putting them up on the coffee table, but Kyungsoo kicks them off as soon as his feet touched the table. Kyungsoo turns to him and scowls, eliciting an airy chuckle from Baekhyun.

After he’s done annoying his roommate, he bids Kyungsoo goodnight and retreats to his room to play some online games on his computer. It takes roughly around four and a half hours--and a few angry knocks from Kyungsoo for being too loud--until he starts losing to the point that it irritates him. Stopping himself before he rage quits on his team, Baekhyun decides that it was time for him to call it a day. Plus, it’s already five in the morning. Good thing tomorrow-- today -- is a Saturday.

♡♡

Baekhyun didn’t exactly think that his Saturday would start with the sound of a loud booming laughter from his living room. Maybe it was Kyungsoo watching some weird show again. He did often have his volume on really high just to wake Baekhyun up. Oh, how they love annoying each other.

Reluctantly, Baekhyun cracks one eye open, not fully awake, and glances at his alarm clock. It’s already one in the afternoon. Well, there goes his day. If you wake up past noon then you’ve basically wasted your entire day, he thinks.

Baekhyun stands up lazily, putting on his slippers and staggers towards the door. He doesn’t really pay attention to his surroundings and goes straight to the kitchen to make some coffee.

He opens the fridge to grab his favorite full-cream milk. Baekhyun is one of those people who likes drinking their coffee with  _ a lot  _ of milk. He doesn’t understand people who enjoy the sheer bitterness of black coffee. It tastes like the medicine that his grandmother used to give him.

To his dismay, they seem to have run out of milk.

He groans and runs his hand through his messy bed hair. “Kyungsoo-ya! Do Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun calls out, still browsing at the inside of their fridge. “We ran out of milk!”

“He went out to buy some.” A deep voice--that is definitely not Kyungsoo’s voice-- suddenly says.

Startled, Baekhyun turns around to find a man in a grey hoodie, sitting on his favorite couch, watching what seems to be a variety show on TV.  _ He has really, really long legs, _ Baekhyun notes.

“Um, who are you and why are you in my living room?” Baekhyun asks, slightly cautious considering that there’s a stranger in his apartment. Should he scream for help? Perhaps he should he make use of his years worth of hapkido training? The guy is probably too big for him to take on though, maybe Baekhyun should throw a can of soda at him as a distraction.

Mr. Long legs seems slightly confused for a few seconds before he breaks out a friendly grin. He has a lot of teeth.

“Ah right. Sorry for scaring you,” The man stands up and walks towards Baekhyun, offering his hand. “I’m Park Chanyeol. Kyungsoo’s friend.”

He shakes his head as his conversation with Kyungsoo from last night slowly comes back to him. “Oh. So you’re Park Chanyeol.” Baekhyun says, shaking Chanyeol’s hand, still somewhat bewildered.

“You know who I am?”

“Kyungsoo mentioned you have bio together.”

“We do.” Chanyeol nods, his movements are big, just like his overall size. His already large grin seems to also grow bigger, “So you must be Byun Baekhyun right?”

“Uh yeah I guess.” With the feeling of surprise and panic dissipating, Baekhyun flashes Chanyeol a friendly smile in return.

“So where’s Kyungsoo again? I didn’t really hear what you were saying earlier,” Baekhyun looks around the apartment, in search for his roommate, “Being scared half to death and all.”

“He went out to buy some milk,” Chanyeol says, sitting down on the dining chair, “He says you’d probably want some when you wake up.”

Baekhyun grabs a glass of water to make up for the absence of his beloved milk and coffee, “Well he’s not wrong.” he chuckles, opting to sit down on the opposite side of table to Chanyeol.

“Man, he knows me way too well.” He mumbles, mostly to himself.

“You guys seem really close.” Chanyeol says, resting his chin on his palm.

Baekhyun shrugs, “I guess so. We’ve known each other forever.” He and Kyungsoo were close, despite having polarizing personalities. Baekhyun likes to think that he’s the closest friend that Kyungsoo has, and he thinks Kyungsoo agrees with him. Not that he would ever admit to it. Kyungsoo was the one who held Baekhyun’s bike when he finally had the courage to take off his training wheels, and Baekhyun was the one who held Kyungsoo’s hand when the latter was trying to learn how to ride a skateboard.

Chanyeol hums in response, and they were silent for a few seconds until Chanyeol opens his mouth, but is then cut off by the sound of the locks turning. Shortly after, the door opens and Kyungsoo walks in.

“Oh hey Soo! You’re back,” Baekhyun eyes the grocery bag dangling from Kyungsoo’s arms, “And with milk!”

“Soo?” Chanyeol asks, looking slightly confused.

“I got you some of your favorite sausages too.” Kyungsoo says, setting the grocery bag on the kitchen counter.

Baekhyun flashes him a grin, “You’re the best.” He grabs the sausages from the counter and begins to stuff them in his mouth.

“What time did you go to sleep last night?” Kyungsoo asks while starts brewing coffee.

“I guess I fell asleep around fiv—”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Baekhyun groans.

Chanyeol looks between the two, looking a bit lost and confused, “You want some coffee? Kyungsoo’s making some.” Baekhyun offers after swallowing his food.

Chanyeol blinks, seemingly snapping himself out of his short trance, “Yeah sure.”

Kyungsoo makes the best coffee, Baekhyun thinks.

The three of them eventually sit around the dining table, “Kyungsoo, you’re not having some?” Chanyeol asks, noticing the absence of a mug in front of him.

“No, I prefer tea.” he answers shortly. Kyungsoo then gets up and excuses himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Chanyeol and Baekhyun to sit in a slightly awkward silence.

The silence didn’t last very long though, which is something that Baekhyun’s grateful for. He hates uncomfortable situations where he just doesn’t know what to say or what to do, “So he made the entire batch for you?” Chanyeol breaks the silence, looking at Baekhyun rather curiously.

“Yep.” Baekhyun adds a few spoonfuls of sugar and pours milk into his cup, and stirs it with a spoon. Taking a few sips to make sure that it’s sweet enough for him.

Chanyeol continues to observe Baekhyun before suddenly snorting, “Do you want some coffee with that milk?” he jokes, looking amused at the sheer amount of sugar and milk Baekhyun is mixing into his coffee. 

Normally Baekhyun would be offended at a comment shaming him for his coffee preferences (or his childish palate) but Chanyeol looks genuinely amused so he’ll let this one slide, “Ah, so you’re one of those weirdos who likes their coffee tasting like shit,” laughs Baekhyun.

“No, I just prefer my coffee to taste like, well, coffee.” Chanyeol chuckles, taking another sip of his unsweetened black coffee.

“Hey, how come I’ve never seen you around?” Chanyeol starts, after a few seconds of silence. “I mean you and Kyungsoo are really close and I see him all the time.”

“It’s probably because we’re in different departments.” Baekhyun says, “I’m an art major, the art and science buildings are on the opposite sides of campus.” It is pretty rare for students from different departments to bump into each other in their campus, simply because it’s too big. Unless of course they have the same circle of friends or are in the same club.

Chanyeol nods in acknowledgement and bites chews on his lips before he starts, “I don’t wanna be rude or intrude but can I ask you something?” He carefully says.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Are you guys like, um, you know,” Chanyeol struggles to say. “Dating?”

Baekhyun blinks a few times and laughs, “What? No! We’re not—we’re just friends! Not dating and definitely not soulmates.” Although, this wouldn’t be the the first time someone thought he and Kyungsoo were a thing. Most even thought they were soulmates after learning that they’ve been together their whole lives.

“He’s right. Baekhyun lies to me all the time. Therefore, him being my soulmate is impossible.” Kyungsoo suddenly adds. Emerging from the bathroom without either of them noticing.

“Sorry, I was just making sure I wasn’t intruding on anything. You guys do seem really close after all.” Chanyeol sheepishly adds, scratching the back of his neck.

“It’s no big deal,” Kyungsoo says, “We probably should continue with Biology.” Kyungsoo says to Chanyeol.

Shortly after, Kyungsoo continues tutoring Chanyeol on Biology in the living room. During this time, Baekhyun makes use of his time to study Chanyeol’s features from afar.

He is extremely tall, that was the first thing Baekhyun noticed when he first saw him. He also has a deep voice, definitely not something you’d expect from someone with his face--his big, almond shaped eyes make him look younger than he probably is. His face. His face is kinda nice, Baekhyun thinks. He also has a nice smile.

This is getting weird. Baekhyun really shouldn’t be checking out Kyungsoo’s classmate. He shakes his head and retreats to his bedroom to play some more games, because what else would you do on a Saturday afternoon?

The weekend came and went without too much happening. He mostly spent it playing games, watching a couple of movies with Kyungsoo and, when he feels like it, he plays a couple of pieces on his keyboard and sings.

Before Baekhyun could realize, it is already Monday. And on Monday, Baekhyun had already agreed to meet up with his friends Jongdae and Sehun who are both incredibly late.

Baekhyun repeatedly taps his left foot on the ground, slightly glaring at his phone. He’s standing in front of the science department building, the place where they agreed they’d meet, alone and in freezing November weather. He spams their group chat with every angry sticker that he has. He even considers buying a couple of new ones just to show how irritated he is.

Usually, he isn’t this grumpy, but it was cold and Baekhyun is starving. He skipped lunch earlier because the three of them decided to get pizza as soon as their classes were done.

He receives a kakaotalk message from Jongdae saying that he’s stuck in his Chemistry class doing extra credit with his professor because he forgot to turn in a paper.  _ Of course. _ He also says that he should go on ahead with Sehun and he’ll catch up.

Baekhyun scoffs, causing a puff of smoke to form that lingers in the cold before eventually dissipating into the cloudy winter sky. He can’t even get a hold of the brat.

Beyond irritated, he decides that it’s probably best to go back to his apartment and play some games until Kyungsoo comes back. He wasn’t in the mood to go grab a bite of pizza by himself. Even if it’s his favorite food.

“Baekhyun?”

Slightly startled, Baekhyun looks up from his phone and sees a familiar handsome face, wearing an equally familiar grey hoodie, staring at him. Positive that it is indeed Baekhyun that he was looking at, Chanyeol grins and enthusiastically walks towards Baekhyun.

Baekhyun smiles at him, pulling down the mask he’s wearing, “Hi again, Chanyeol.”

“What are you doing standing out here?” Chanyeol says, “Are you looking for Kyungsoo?”

“No, I was supposed to meet up with some friends and grab something to eat but it kinda fell through.”

“Oh? Your friends bailed on you or something?”

“Technically, no. One is stuck with his professor because he’s an idiot and the other seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes and sighs.

Chanyeol chuckles, “How long have you been standing here then?”

He’s been standing here for quite a while, honestly he kinda lost track of time. Baekhyun quickly glances at the clock on his phone, “About an hour I guess.”

Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows, “You’ve been out here in the cold for about an hour?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re upset?”

“And starving too.” Baekhyun adds, “Why? Is it bad that I’m upset over this?” His tone comes out more accusatory than he intends it to be.

“No! It’s just-- it’s funny because if I were you I would have bailed half an hour ago.” Chanyeol quickly explains, seemingly afraid that he might’ve offended Baekhyun.

“I’ll just yell at them later” Baekhyun shrugs. He’ll definitely give them an earful later, they’re probably used to it anyway at this point.

Chanyeol laughs, “So, how about we grab some pizza” He cocks his head, motioning for Baekhyun to follow him.

“What?”

“Well you did say you were starving.” Chanyeol shrugs.

“No—I mean, yeah, but how did you know I wanted pizza.” Chanyeol isn’t one of those people who has a sixth sense is he?

“I didn’t?” Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, “I just happen to really like pizza.” He smirks as he starts walking away. Baekhyun blinks, unsure to what to make of the situation before he then scrambles to follow Chanyeol.

Baekhyun recommends a pizza place that he and Jongdae have been frequenting ever since they were freshmen. It was a little small joint just outside their university, it’s rarely ever crowded and it has nice some beer.

It is, however, a ten minute walk from the campus. Baekhyun learns during their walk that Chanyeol is very chatty. He asks Baekhyun about his art classes before abruptly talking about his dog, Toben, who Chanyeol seem to miss very much. Chanyeol is also really excited when he finds out that Baekhyun, too, has a dog at home, a corgi named Mongryong.

Baekhyun also realizes that Chanyeol is at least a head taller than him, which is unfair. His strides are quite difficult to keep up with, thanks to his long legs.

“I didn’t know we had a small pizza place like this just outside campus.” Chanyeol says as he scans the menu, contemplating on what he should order. “This is a bit of a controversial question, but how do you feel about pineapples on your pizza?” He grins from ear to ear.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile, “They’re fine. Pizza is still pizza.” Jongdae would be very upset at his answer. He strongly believes that pineapples don’t belong anywhere near a pizza.

“I agree.” Chanyeol orders one supreme pizza and one hawaiian. “You want some beer?” Chanyeol offers.

“No thanks, I’ll just have a strawberry milkshake.”

“You have quite the sweet tooth huh.”

“Uh I guess so, I can’t really hold my liquor either.” Baekhyun admits, “It only takes one bottle of beer before my face starts turning red. It’s kinda pathetic, I know.” It’s also one of the reasons why Baekhyun doesn’t like going out drinking as much as his friends would like him to. He always ends up as the chaperone because he’s the only one sober by the end of the night.

“No, it’s not, it’s actually kinda cute.” Chanyeol says, “There’s an ice cream place nearby that’s super good. I bet you’d like ‘em. I’ll take you there sometime.”

Before Baekhyun can respond and process what Chanyeol just said, the waiter appears at their table with utensils and a couple of condiments and their drinks. Chanyeol starts playing with his phone and Baekhyun does the same, he texts Kyungsoo letting him know that he’s eating out.

Not long after, their pizza arrives to their table. Baekhyun notices the way Chanyeol’s eyes follow the pizza as the waiter sets it down on the table. Honestly, he looks like a giant puppy getting excited over a meal. “Man the pizza here is really good. I don’t know how I’ve never heard of this place before.” Chanyeol says after taking a few large bites of the hawaiian pizza.

“Right? It’s probably because it’s so small. Jongdae and I also found this place completely by chance.” He and Jongdae were two lost freshmen when they found the pizza place, they were hungry and decided to eat whatever was near them. Little did they know, it was the best pizza in town. Well, at least in Baekhyun’s opinion.

“Jongdae? Obnoxiously loud Kim Jongdae?” Chanyeol asks, after he swallows his food, eyes bulging.

“Yeah, you know him?” There are a few Jongdaes on campus, but there’s only one who’s obnoxiously loud and Baekhyun’s been stuck with him ever since they took their entrance test together.

“Jongdae’s my classmate. We have the same major.” Chanyeol says with his eyes still wide.

“But Jongdae’s a biochem major.”

“So am I.” He laughs.

Baekhyun stares at him in confusion, “I thought you were in medicine like Kyungsoo.”

“Kyungsoo and I only have one class together.” Chanyeol says, taking another slice of pizza.

Baekhyun tries to recall if Jongdae have ever talked about Chanyeol. Jongdae never minds his own business so he must have mentioned him at some point over the last 3 years. Maybe that’s why his name is so familiar.

“So what about you? How do you know Jongdae?”

“We met during the entrance test.” Baekhyun would rather die than admit this, but him meeting Jongdae was probably one of his favorite memories during his time in college. Jongdae just randomly approached him to complain about how hard the test was and they became friends over shared pizza. They both had more in common than they originally thought they did, Jongdae liked to talk and so did Baekhyun. Baekhyun likes to stay in, and Jongdae likes to go out, so in a way, they complemented each other.

Chanyeol’s eyes widen again in realization, “Oh so  _ you’re _ the best friend Jongdae’s always complaining about!” He says rather excitedly.

Baekhyun scoffs, “He complains about me?”  _ Of course he does _ . This isn’t really news to him.

“Mostly about how you always stay holed up in your room.” Jongdae always says that Baekhyun is wasting his youth. Bullshit.

“Maybe I’ll come out with him more often if he doesn’t leave me out in the cold every now and then.” Baekhyun mumbles, taking a sip of his milkshake, biting the straw.

“Jongdae was the one you were waiting for earlier?” Chanyeol looks amused.

“Yeah, him and some brat called Sehun promised me pizza.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen once more, it’s honestly adorable considering how large Chanyeol’s eyes already are. It makes him look almost cartoonish. “You’re not talking about Oh Sehun are you?”

“You know Sehun too?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

“He’s one of my roommates.” Chanyeol explains, “Wow. We have a lot of mutual friends, it’s weird how we’ve never met.” Baekhyun wouldn’t exactly count two as ‘a lot’ but this probably explains why Chanyeol’s name is so familiar, he does admit that it is strange how they’ve never seen each other at least once.

“It’s probably because I never leave my room, according to Jongdae.” Baekhyun says. He tries to recalls if he’s ever seen Chanyeol with Sehun or Jongdae but there’s no way he wouldn’t notice if a guy like Chanyeol was walking about. He shakes his head once he realizes where his train of thought is going,

“And how do you know Sehun?” Chanyeol asks, taking another sip. Ah yes, Oh Sehun. The brat that he and Jongdae both love to hate, and hate to love. Baekhyun’s not entirely sure how Jongdae and Sehun met, they mentioned it was at a random frat party or something but never really cared.

“Jongdae introduced us. And he plays games with me pretty often too.” They became close after Baekhyun yelled at him during a pretty heated round of LoL, Sehun found Baekhyun’s random string of curses to be quite hilarious. An unlikely friendship but Sehun can be a good kid when he wants to be.

Chanyeol nods in response, and leans in “What kind of games do you like?” He adds, seemingly intrigued.

Baekhyun pauses for a second. He plays  _ a lot _ of games, ranging from consoles to random mobile games that he downloads when he’s bored. “Mostly PC games, I play a lot of League of Legends and sometimes Overwatch, but I’m pretty into PUBG right now.”

“Really? We should play together sometimes then! I just bought a new alienware laptop so I don’t have to go to the PC room anymore to play.” Chanyeol excitedly says. Ah so he’s a nerd, from his built Baekhyun thought Chanyeol would’ve been a jock, probably someone from the basketball team.

“Sure. Just text me if you wanna play or something.” He hands over his phone and Chanyeol smiles when he types his number into Baekhyun’s contacts.

“So what’s the deal with you and Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol suddenly asks after a few seconds of silence, taking a sip of his beer.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at Chanyeol before answering, “We’re childhood friends. We’ve known each other since kindergarten.”

“I really thought you guys were dating. I didn’t think anyone could be that close to Kyungsoo.”

There it is again. He recalls a time in freshman year where Jongdae gave them a coupon for a romantic couple’s massage at a nearby spa. “Yeah well you’re not the first to think that. Why are you asking anyway? Are you interested in him or something?”

“I kind of am actually.” Chanyeol sheepishly admits.

“Oh.” Baekhyun expected it, but strangely he still finds it quite surprising. “ _ Oh.  _ Is that why you asked him to  _ tutor _ you?” He makes air quotes using his hands at the word tutor.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol laughs, looking slightly embarrassed, “Sorry, is it weird that I’m telling you all this even if we just met? It’s just that you’re really easy to talk to.” Chanyeol rambles.

Baekhyun blinks a few times, “No, it’s not weird. It’s really easy talking to you, too.” Maybe it’s because of how laid back Chanyeol is. It’s weird, but he feels like he’s talking to an old friend and not some random dude he’s known for less than a week.

A cheeky smile immediately creeps onto Chanyeol’s face, “What about you? You dating someone?”

“Nope, I’m not seeing anyone at the moment.”

“Ah, waiting for ‘the one’ then?” Chanyeol glances briefly at the person who just entered the pizza joint, before bringing his eyes back to Baekhyun.

“Actually no, I don’t really dig that whole soulmate crap.” He admits.

“Really?” Chanyeol lifts an eyebrow. “I guess I can understand that. I personally love the idea of having someone so special that you can connect with them on every level, but at the same time I don’t think I mind falling in love with someone who isn’t ‘predetermined’ to be with me.” He rambles again.

Chanyeol rambles a lot, Baekhyun notes. He also makes a lot of direct eye contact.

This comes as quite of a surprise to Baekhyun. His opinion regarding pre-determined lovers is quite unpopular after all, and some might even say, controversial. “That’s...cool I guess.” He then says, nodding. Rather pleased that he doesn’t need to get into a debate like he did with Sehun when he first knew Baekhyun disliked the idea of soulmates.

“I find the whole ‘it’s physically impossible to lie to your soulmate’ thing a bit annoying.” Baekhyun adds. The idea of having no choice but to say and open up to another person is unsettling to him.

“Why so?” Chanyeol cocks his head to his right, eyebrows furrowed.

“I think harmless little white lies are necessary.” Baekhyun gulps what’s left of his milkshake.

Chanyeol frowns slightly, but nods in response.

“So you’re cool even if Kyungsoo isn’t your soulmate?” Baekhyun asks, chewing on his straw.

“Yeah I don’t mind. I mean it would be pretty epic if he were my soulmate.” Chanyeol shrugs, “But it really doesn’t matter, I really like him regardless.” He smiles widely, but also shyly. Quite endearing in Baekhyun’s opinion.

Baekhyun hums and nods. He knows for a fact that Chanyeol isn’t Kyungsoo’s soulmate. But he wasn’t going to tell him that.

After a brief moment of silence, Chanyeol starts speaking again, “So like...can you help me?” He asks sheepishly.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, having a pretty good idea of what Chanyeol’s about to ask him, “Help you with what?”

“Well, help me get closer to Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol says, “I mean you don’t have to!” He quickly adds, gesticulating frantically.

Another moment of silence. “I dunno.” Baekhyun finally says, normally he would flat out reject anyone who tries to make a move on Kyungsoo, but there’s just something different about this guy, “Kyungsoo isn’t exactly, you know, open to these sort of things.”

“That’s why it would be really cool if you could help me.” Chanyeol flashes him a smile, a very sweet smile. A smile that’s for some reason, really hard to resist.

Baekhyun decides he likes Chanyeol’s smile, “Ugh fine, I’ll think about it.” He’ll have to see if Kyungsoo is in a good mood tonight.

Chanyeol grins at him, clearly satisfied with Baekhyun’s answer and starts talking about something else. “So Baek, what else do you do in that cave of yours?” Chanyeol asks

“Um not much I guess? I like watching let’s plays on youtube and highlight reels.” Baekhyun says, “And I guess movies on netflix.” He starts to frown at the realization of just how boring must’ve sounded just now.

“What kind of movies?” Baekhyun stares at him, he can’t tell if Chanyeol is just making conversation or he’s genuinely curious about Baekhyun as a person. So, he decides to play along and answers almost all of Chanyeol’s questions.

Baekhyun is pleasantly surprised that he and Chanyeol have a lot in common. They like the same movies—Chanyeol seems to have a great fondness for superhero movies just like he does.

He’s even more surprised when he learns that Chanyeol is an even bigger nerd than he is. Going into this, Baekhyun never expected for him and Chanyeol to click so easily. The guy seems too outgoing for his introverted ass, but now he has to admit, he thinks Chanyeol might just have the rare potential of becoming a close friend.

“I can’t believe you really spent that much money on an iron man costume.” Baekhyun laughs, holding Chanyeol’s phone, scrolling through pictures of him from halloween.

“I couldn’t believe it either, I was so broke for at least 3 months. I had to eat Sehun’s shit cooking and live off of instant ramen.” Chanyeol laughs, his smile reaching his eyes where they form tiny wrinkles, showing at least a million teeth.

“How did you even sit in that thing?”

“I didn’t!” Chanyeol hits the table while he continues to laugh, causing the sole employee of the joint to stare at them.

“Wait, so you just stood up the entire time?” Baekhyun, currently dying from laughter, quickly wipes the tears that were forming in the corner of his eyes.

“I even had to walk all the way to the party.”

“But I guess it was worth it?”

“First place for best costume, baby” Chanyeol winks, obviously having no regrets on spending a shitload of money on a halloween costume.

“Did you at least get some prize money?”

“No, the prize for best costume was an electric guitar.” Chanyeol says, his laughter dying down, “It makes no sense I know, but it’s not too bad.”

“You play the guitar?” Baekhyun asks, regaining his composure.

“Uh yeah. It’s a hobby of mine. I also do gigs on campus for some extra cash.”

“Is that how you paid for your iron man costume?” Baekhyun calls the waiter to order another drink. Jesus, he can’t even order properly he’s still too winded from all the laughing.

“And it’s also how I’m going to pay for my deadpool costume for next year.” Chanyeol says, sipping his beer, “Do you play any instruments?”

“I guess I play the piano sometimes, only when I feel like it though.” He’s kinda on and off about it, he took lessons ever since he was four, but he stopped for a long time when puberty hit him. Baekhyun likes to think of it as one of his rebellious phases.

“Oh, I remember now!” Chanyeol suddenly claps his hands together, slightly startling Baekhyun, “Jongdae’s always boasting about how his best friend has an amazing voice and plays the piano!”

“He exaggerates, that Jongdae.” Honestly, Jongdae’s only probably heard him sing twice—or maybe thrice, at most. Baekhyun doesn’t really sing in front of people. He mostly does it for himself.

“Play for me sometime—better yet, can you teach me? I’ve been teaching myself to play the piano and I think I need a tutor.” He rests his chin on his palm, looking and smiling at Baekhyun rather expectantly.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and smirks, “Oh, so now you’re using the tutor move on me are you? And I thought you liked Kyungsoo.” He teases.

“Hey! Not all of us has the privilege of being Kyungsoo’s childhood friend.” Chanyeol says, leaning back, “He’s actually kinda of hard to approach, he doesn’t smile much. Makes him a bit intimidating.”

“He kinda is. Soo isn’t really a people person.” Baekhyun says, “But he is a good person. And a good friend.”

“Does  _ Soo  _ have a nickname for you?” Chanyeol asks playfully, “Does he call you Hyun or something?”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, he does have a pretty endearing nickname for me.”

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What is it?”

“Motherfucker,” Baekhyun grins. “Or shitface. Depends on his mood.”

Chanyeol snorts. “Those are pet names?”

“Do you honestly think Kyungsoo is the type to use actual pet names?” The idea of Kyungsoo using nicknames is ridiculous to Baekhyun. He only calls Kyungsoo ‘Soo’ because he couldn’t pronounce his name when they were younger, and it just kinda stayed that way.

“Guess not.“

“Why? You wanna use cute nicknames with him when you get together?” Baekhyun teases again, he decides he likes seeing Chanyeol flustered.

“No, I was just curious--”

“Him calling you something cute like, hmm, Yeollie—“

“Oh stop it, you know that’s not what I meant.” Chanyeol laughs, his big ears slightly turning red. Huh, even in all of his six feet glory Chanyeol gets easily flustered like a teenage girl.

“Mhm, whatever you say  _ Yeol _ .” Baekhyun admits it’s not the most creative nickname but he really can’t think of anything else. Plus he thinks it’s kinda cute. Chanyeol is already a pretty cute name in Baekhyun’s opinion. Reminds him of berries.

Chanyeol is unsurprisingly good company. In what must have been their third round of drinks, Baekhyun decides that he’s kinda glad that Jongdae and Sehun ditched him tonight.

“Wow, look at the time. I can’t believe it’s already ten.” Chanyeol says, looking at his phone.

Baekhyun blinks,  _ it’s ten? _ He’s been too absorbed in Chanyeol’s freshman dorm horror stories to even glance at his phone or clock.

“I’d love to stay and talk some more, but I really gotta run. I have a chem quiz tomorrow.”

“Yeah—no problem I also have to go.” Baekhyun says, reaching for his bag.

“It was fun hanging with you _ Baek _ ,” Chanyeol smirks.

Baekhyun chuckles,  _ Baek? Really? _ It’s almost as unoriginal as Yeol. But Baekhyun decides he can live with it.

“We should do this again sometimes.  _ And  _ get dessert.” Chanyeol says, standing up to go the cashier.

He isn’t against the idea of having dessert with Chanyeol. “Definitely.”

Chanyeol slings his bag over his shoulders, “You wanna walk back together?” He offers.

 

“Nah, you go first. I have to pick up something from a nearby store.” Baekhyun was tempted to agree, but he decides ditching his errands would be a bad idea. He’s been procrastinating go to pick up his supplies for weeks.

They split the bill and Chanyeol waves at him with a big grin on his face before he runs off.

 

♡♡

When Baekhyun gets to the art store, the old lady that runs it scowls at him and complains about how she needs to close down soon. In return, Baekhyun just says he’ll be quick and gives the lady a sheepish smile. Shortly after Baekhyun enters the art store, his phone vibrates.

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ hyung sorry i couldn’t make it! my parents came by so had to go to dinner w/ them. my phone died & forgot to bring my charger lol _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ You and jongdae made me stand in the cold for fifty-five fucking minutes you asshats. _

Baekhyun isn’t even annoyed anymore. He just feels like giving his friend a hard time.

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ wait jongdae hyung also bailed? So are you at home now or? _

Didn’t this brat bothered to check their group chat?

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ I’m at the art store near the pizza place. _

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ omg please tell me you didn’t eat by yourself again lol _

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. Seriously  _ what  _ is the big deal when people eat by themselves? He grabs a few acrylic paint bottles from the shelves.

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ not that’s anything wrong with eating alone ofc but it is kinda sad _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ no it’s not. i ate with your roommate fyi. _

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ my roommate? which roommate? i have two you know _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ ridiculously tall, deep voice, big eyes, big ears and an equally big smile _

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ chanyeol? i didn't know you guys knew each other _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ we just met. kyungsoo introduced us. _

Baekhyun stops typing when he reaches the cashier and reaches for his wallet in his back pocket to pay. (The shop owner is still scowling at him.) Once he’s done he walks out of the store and makes his way back into the apartment.

“Do kyungsoo! I’m back!” He shouts loudly, mostly to annoy Kyungsoo rather than make his presence known. But as he expected, there is no response from Kyungsoo. He’s probably in his room studying or something.

Baekhyun contemplates if he should barge into Kyungsoo’s room and tell him all about his dinner with Chanyeol, but he later decides not to. He’ll probably get the door slammed in his face if he does.

Instead, he takes a quick shower and changes into his most comfortable shirt before he decides that he should probably start working on those art history papers he’s been neglecting.

♡♡

The next day, Baekhyun is in the middle of class when he receives a message from Chanyeol.

**_Park Chanyeol:_** _Guess who’s probably gonna flunk chemistry this semester?_

Baekhyun smiles when he reads the message through his notifications, he unlocks his phone and adds Chanyeol to his friends list and begins to type his response.

**_Byun Baekhyun:_** _I’m guessing the test didn’t go too well?_

He locks his phone and tries to bring his attention back to the ongoing lecture.Not even a full minute later, Chanyeol’s response appears.

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!!! idk how i’m gonna survive finals _

That’s a lot of exclamation marks, Baekhyun thinks.

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ ask kyungsoo to tutor you ;) _

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ ha ha very funny baek _

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ what are you doing rn?? _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ trying to pay attention to what my professor is saying _

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ whoops sorry i’ll text you again later then!! :) _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ ok. and i’m sure you’ll do fine on your finals. maybe i’ll even help you cram. _

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ wait, really?? _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ no. _

**_Park Chanyeol:_ ** _ :( _

“Someone’s distracted.”  Baekhyun looks away from his phone and turns towards Junmyeon--a classmate of his, who in Baekhyun’s opinion is too uptight for his own good.

“You should really take your studies more seriously. Finals are right around the corner.” Junmyeon adds, scribbling down on his notebook.

He has to admit, Baekhyun doesn’t exactly have a lot of close friends outside of his usual circle, and he never foresaw becoming friends with Kim Junmyeon when they first met. He’s not really the type that Baekhyun usually hangs out with, if anything he would get along  _ much  _ better with Kyungsoo. Too preppy for Baekhyun’s taste. But over time, Baekhyun has grown rather fond of Junmyeon. Despite his occasional snooty comments, he’s a pretty cool guy.

“Yeah, yeah.” Baekhyun locks his phone and puts it away in his pocket. He is slightly annoyed by Junmyeon’s nagging, but the guy does have a point. It was already the first week of December and finals are starting the next week.

Luckily for Baekhyun, being an art student means his finals mostly consists of long-term solo projects that takes up at least sixty percent of his grade. At most, Baekhyun only has 3 classes with written exams.

Not only that, but thanks to Junmyeon—bless him—Baekhyun started all of his projects early. Even though he mostly did it solely to avoid Junmyeon’s constant nagging.

After his last class, Baekhyun receives another message from Chanyeol, asking him if he wants to watch Bohemian Rhapsody later that night.

Well, this is unexpected.

Baekhyun contemplates for a few minutes. He’s not really the biggest fan of spontaneity—he finds them rather bothersome—and he’s not one to hangout with random strangers.

To be fair, Chanyeol isn’t exactly a complete stranger. After last night it’s safe to say they’re acquaintances—maybe even friends. Plus, he has nothing to do later tonight.

Thus, he says yes.

Baekhyun checks the time on his phone. It’s only 3pm, and he agreed to meet Chanyeol at seven. He decides to go back to his apartment to finalize his art pieces that are due next week.

When the clock hits six-thirty, Baekhyun heads out to the cinema just outside of their campus. It’s still slightly cold out so he decided to wear one of his thicker coats and wonders should he wait outside if he arrives before Chanyeol.

Once he arrives, he’s surprised to find Chanyeol in his grey hoodie already waiting in front of the entrance, playing with his phone.

Does this guy ever change his clothes? Perhaps he has three identical hoodies?

“You didn’t have to wait for me outside, you know,” Baekhyun says, making his presence known to Chanyeol. “It’s freezing.”

He looks up from his phone and greets Baekhyun with a smile, “You’re right, I didn’t have to. But I wanted to.” He opens the door to the building, “After all, I did force you out of your room.”

Chanyeol motions for Baekhyun to walk in first while he holds the door, “You didn’t force me,” Baekhyun scoffs. “I simply had nothing to do tonight.” It was true, on nights where playing video games weren’t appealing to him, Baekhyun usually wastes his night away by lying down on his bed staring at his ceiling. If he’s lucky, his bagpipe-enthusiast upstairs neighbor would entertain him.

“I was surprised when you said yes, considering how Jongdae made you seem like a hermit.”

Part of the reason why Baekhyun agreed was to prove Jongdae wrong and somewhat clear his reputation. He’s not really too fond of being known as ‘the hermit’ in his circle of friends. He could be outgoing if he wanted to.

“I told you Jongdae exaggerates.” Baekhyun says walking inside and follows Chanyeol to the counter to buy the movie tickets.

“So, it’s gonna be just us tonight or is anyone else coming?” Baekhyun asks when he notices Chanyeol only buying two tickets.

“My other roommate Jongin was supposed to come, but he just said he’s not coming.” Chanyeol explains.

“He bailed?” Baekhyun asks.

“He mentioned something about his sister needing him for something.” Chanyeol says, “He was pretty excited about tonight actually.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, “He’s a Queen fan?”

“Err, I’m not sure about that, to be honest.”

“Why do our friends keep cancelling on us? Maybe we need better friends.” Honestly, it’s probably because they coincidentally have the same circle of friends.

“Maybe,” Chanyeol shrugs and then smirks, “but hey, you get to spend some more quality time with me.” It took almost all of Baekhyun’s inner strength to not roll his eyes.

Chanyeol starts walking to the snack counter and Baekhyun follows him and stops when they reach the queue.

“Does it bother you that it’s just the two of us?” He asks, glancing at Baekhyun.

“I did eat pizza with you yesterday, so...” Baekhyun nonchalantly says, eyes squinting trying to read the menu from the distance.  _ Jesus, he should really stop playing games in the dark. _

“I’ll take that as a no?” Chanyeol asks, sounding slightly hopeful.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and turns towards the giant, who is still staring at him quite intently, “Duh.”

Chanyeol lets out a soft chuckle.  “Alright then, you want some popcorn?” He offers, eyes finally shifting to the menu and off of Baekhyun’s face.

“Sure, why not?” Baekhyun replies, “Honestly I don’t get people who watch movies without snacks. It just doesn’t feel right.” He comments while he glances at people going into the theater without food nor drinks in their hands.

“I know right?! What a bunch of weirdos.” Chanyeol agrees, “Butter or caramel?”

“Both.”

When Chanyeol reaches for his back pocket again, Baekhyun pushes him aside, “I know you’re a big spender and all but at least let me pay for the popcorn.”

“It’s alright—“

“No, you’re not paying for everything. This ain’t a date.” Baekhyun says stubbornly, cutting Chanyeol off, “You gotta at least be on level ‘prince charming’ to unlock that feature.”

“Oh? What level am I on now then?” Chanyeol looks at him with an amused expression, “I hope at least I’m on level ‘potential good friends’.”

“Work a little harder and you’ll even reach the level where you can unlock my tragic backstory.” Baekhyun jokes, pulling out his own wallet to pay for the popcorn. Under normal circumstances, Baekhyun wouldn’t mind watching a movie for free and someone buying him free food. Heck it’s one of the biggest reasons he goes on the blind dates Jongdae always set him up with, but this time it felt a bit weird.

♡♡

Baekhyun has to admit. That was a pretty great movie. The portrayal of Freddie Mercury was better than he expected and he’ll probably be listening to only Queen for the next two months. Chanyeol seems to agree with him seeing how he can’t seem to shut up about how great the film was and how much he enjoyed it on their way home. He’s kinda glad that Chanyeol talks so much, that way he doesn’t have to force himself to make small talk like he usually does with other people.

Somewhere in the middle of Chanyeol’s ramblings about Rami Malek, Baekhyun can’t help but to ask something that’s been bothering him since earlier that day, “Hey Chanyeol.” Baekhyun starts, glancing upwardly at Chanyeol.

“Hm?” Chanyeol shifts his focus from the sky and meets Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Why did you ask me to see the movie with you?” Baekhyun’s genuinely curious. Out of all the people Chanyeol must know (heck the guy has two roommates), why the hell did he invite some dude he met a few days ago?

“Uh, because I thought it’d be fun?” Chanyeol immediately says, “Why are you asking?”

This guy can’t be serious, “I mean you could’ve asked Kyungsoo. You even had the perfect excuse to make it an unofficial date. You do know he  _ loves  _ movies right?”

“Huh.” Chanyeol stops in his tracks, “I didn’t think of that actually.”

Baekhyun wonders if he’s lying. He had such a perfect excuse to at least try to ask Kyungsoo but the thought didn’t even cross his mind. “Idiot. You missed a golden opportunity.”

“Yeah, but all I thought was ‘Baekhyun’s pretty cool, I like him so maybe I should hang with him again today’ or something along that line.”  _ Okay, Chanyeol has to be lying _ , Baekhyun thinks. He also doesn’t know why he feels the need to avert his eyes to the Christmas lights across the street.

“I’m touched that you think I’m cool.” Baekhyun’s lips quirks up into a smirk, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“I’m flattered.”

“For a nerd.” Chanyeol nudges Baekhyun playfully with his elbow and Baekhyun chuckles. “What are you doing out watching movies anyway, I thought you were flunking chemistry.” He adds.

Chanyeol groans, and runs his hand through his hair, messing it up. “I needed a breather! I’ll start revising tomorrow.”

Baekhyun looks at him, utterly unconvinced. “Why do I feel like you’re bullshitting me right no?” Chanyeol doesn’t seem like the type to start revising early. If anything he looks like the type to do everything at the last minute.

“I swear, I’m not.” Chanyeol says. “I even have study sessions with Jongdae on Friday.”

“Hm. Maybe I should help you cram after all.” Baekhyun thinks out loud.

“That’s nice, but you really didn’t have to,” Chanyeol laughs. “I’m sure you have a ton to do for finals.”

“I did...but most of them are done already.”

“I didn’t take you for the diligent type.”

Baekhyun snorts. He’s not entirely sure if Chanyeol just complimented or insulted him. “I’ll ignore the slightly insulting undertone of that statement.” Either way, Chanyeol’s right, Baekhyun’s not the diligent type. If anything he’s the type to do everything at the last minute if not for Junmyeon, “I have this neurotic classmate that nags at me more than my mom so I started all of my projects early,” he explains.

“Still, you should just rest in that cave of yours.”

Baekhyun starts noticing the familiar neighborhood. They could not have possibly reached his apartment already. He was sure that they have only been walking for like ten minutes—maybe it was because they were walking at Chanyeol and his ridiculously long legs’ pace.

“You didn’t have to walk me all the way to my apartment, you know.” Baekhyun says. Seriously even the guys he had gone on dates with didn’t even offer to walk him home, let alone doing so in the middle of winter.

“I know but—“

“You wanted to. Yeah, yeah. I know.” Baekhyun smiles. And Chanyeol smiles back at him in response.

Baekhyun climbs the steps of his apartment before stopping “You know Kyungsoo’s probably inside…” He starts, “I’m just saying, if you’re lucky you’ll catch him in his pajamas.”

Chanyeol laughs, “You’re making me sound like a pervert.”

“Hey I’ve known you for less than a week. For all I know you could be a pervert and a serial killer.”

Chanyeol chuckles lightly at Baekhyun’s joke, but refuses his offer, “I don’t wanna intrude and it’s already pretty late.”

“You sure?”

Chanyeol puts both of his hands in his coat pockets, “Yeah. I don’t want Kyungsoo thinking I’m rude for barging in this late at night.”

“Jongdae’s done worse,” Baekhyun offhandedly says, recalling all those times Jongdae bangedon his apartment door after midnight, simply because he was bored and his primary idea of entertainment was singing show tunes off-key with Baekhyun, “...and Kyungsoo now scowl at Jongdae everytime he speaks so you’re probably right.”

Chanyeol smiles, seemingly amused, “Goodnight, Baek.”

“See you around, Yeol.” Baekhyun finds himself smiling back to Chanyeol. He turns towards the door leading to the apartment building. Halfway through, he decides to take quick glance towards Chanyeol. To his surprise, the giant is still standing there smiling and waving as he notices Baekhyun looking at him. He can’t help but laugh and wave back to the oversized dork.

Baekhyun turns the lock to his apartment and walks inside. He really did have a nice time tonight. That’s two nights in a row where he feels somewhat at ease with someone he barely knows.

“You seem happy.” A familiar voice says, bringing him back to reality.

“What?” Baekhyun turns his attention to Kyungsoo, who’s sitting on their couch, holding what seems to be his anatomy textbook.

“You’re smiling. Did something happen?” Kyungsoo casually says, shifting his eyes from Baekhyun back to his book.

Was he still smiling? That must’ve been weird for Kyungsoo, seeing his roommate smiling to himself like a maniac.

“No, not really. I just saw a really good movie, I guess.” Baekhyun shrugs, taking off his shoes. Technically he’s also not lying, the movie he just saw was indeed excellent.

“By yourself?”

“Nope.”

“Jongdae?” Kyungsoo flips a page.

“Chanyeol.”

“Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo turns to Baekhyun once more, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh-huh.”

“You guys are friends?”

At this point they’re definitely are. “Yup. We bonded over pizza yesterday.”

Kyungsoo hums in response. Baekhyun secretly thanks God for not making Kyungsoo a nosy roommate, never asking too many questions and always gets the hint whenever Baekhyun wants him to drop the topic. He stands still for a while and eyes his friend. Kyungsoo is much more of a shut in than he is, he doesn’t go out unless it’s studying is somehow involved. Chanyeol--or anyone, really--trying to bond with Kyungsoo is a near impossible task, but Baekhyun is feeling a bit generous tonight. Probably because he’s in a good mood.

And Chanyeol did walk him all the way home.

“Hey Soo, can you do me a favor?” Baekhyun takes a seat next to Kyungsoo on their couch.

“Sure what is it?” Kyungsoo says, eyes still glued to his book.

“Chemistry.”

Kyungsoo turns to him, an eyebrow raised, obviously confused, “Sorry?”

“I need you to help me help Chanyeol cram for his chemistry finals.”

Kyungsoo stares at Baekhyun, frowning, seemingly confused at such an odd request.

“He said that he’s struggling with chem and I kinda promised to help him and since you tutored him before…” He  _ technically _ didn’t promise Chanyeol anything and he is also  _ technically  _ lying to Kyungsoo, but Baekhyun is a big believer of the end justifying the means.

“Alright, I don’t see why not.” Kyungsoo agrees after a few seconds of silence, and shifts his focus back to his book once again.

“Wait, really?”

Kyungsoo nods.

“I didn’t think you’d say yes.” Baekhyun was even ready to coerce him into saying yes. He didn’t think it would be this easy.

Kyungsoo shrugs, eyes not moving from his book. “Chanyeol’s cool.” Can’t really argue with that.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, “You think so?”

“You seem to agree since you’re spending time with him.” Well, Baekhyun can’t argue with that either.

“Well yeah, so you’re okay with it?”

“He’s pretty much alright.” Kyungsoo says nonchalantly.

Pretty much alright in Kyungsoo’s book can be considered a pretty hefty compliment.

“So you like him?” Baekhyun presses.

“Of course, I like him. Didn’t I just say he was alright?” Kyungsoo frowns, starting to get a bit irritated.

Baekhyun raises his both his hands in defeat, he isn’t going to pry even further. He decides to retreat into his room.

Kyungsoo likes Chanyeol, albeit platonically for now, but that’s already a good sign.

Man, Chanyeol might just be able to do this if he plays his cards right. Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol had thought of a plan So far, he’s done more in winning Kyungsoo’s favor than any other guy or girl had ever did in one study session.

It would be pretty nice to see Kyungsoo happy and Chanyeol does seem like a genuinely great guy.

Best of all, Chanyeol claims he doesn’t care about Kyungsoo not being his soulmate. If he truly likes Kyungsoo then it shouldn’t matter if he meets his soulmate later down the line. Kyungsoo deserves someone who will love him for who he is. Especially after what he’s been through, Baekhyun thinks. Plus Chanyeol did ask him to help as a favor, and he asked  _ very  _ nicely.

Baekhyun changes into his pajamas and lies down on his bed. He plugs in his phone and then he notices the excessive amount of chat notifications from none other than Chanyeol himself.

It was mostly him still rambling about the movie and how he’s going to make a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody using the electric guitar he won during halloween. Oh, and he also thanks Baekhyun a few times for yet another great night out.

Baekhyun types responses in an equally excessive amount and using as much stickers as he can and he finds himself messaging Chanyeol until one-thirty in the morning. He later realizes that he needs to sleep or else he’s gonna miss his 8am class.

Kyungsoo was right, Park Chanyeol is a pretty alright guy.

♡♡

Chanyeol and Baekhyun keeps texting back and forth for the rest of the week. Baekhyun liked talking to Chanyeol more than he would ever admit. Chanyeol is a great listener. He’s always genuinely interested in what Baekhyun has to say, even if it’s ridiculously mundane things like how he burnt his toast earlier that morning. He tells Chanyeol dumb things like how Junmyeon walked into a glass door in the art building because he was too busy memorizing dates for their art history finals. He also complains to Chanyeol about the pretentious art nerds in his class, and basically anyone he doesn’t like.

Baekhyun himself finds it oddly comforting how Chanyeol sends him dumb things too, like an old selca of his from freshman year, pointing out how short his hair was. It was pretty short compared to now but Baekhyun thinks it makes Chanyeol look younger. There was also a time where Chanyeol sent him a video of himself playing the electric guitar--the Bohemian Rhapsody cover he promised Baekhyun a while back.

Baekhyun catches himself smiling after watching the video. He thinks it was almost impossible not to smile seeing Chanyeol grinning and waving at the camera like an excited puppy. He also got a really good laugh when Chanyeol sent him the bloopers of his cover, where he messes up the chords at least five times before getting everything right, _ what a dork _ .

He also called Baekhyun when Kyungsoo offered him to study Chemistry together. It would be an understatement to say that Chanyeol was beyond thrilled that his crush was the one who asked him to spend time together.

Since it was the last night of exam week and Baekhyun had completed his last written exam earlier that day and Kyungsoo was already helping Chanyeol, Baekhyun decides to help Jongdae cram for his chemistry finals the following day instead. He figured Jongdae needed the moral support, considering that Minseok was also busy for the night because he had his own study group that he had to attend.

“Why didn’t I major in art?” Jongdae lays his head down onto the textbook sprawled in front of him.

“You hate art,” Baekhyun offhandedly replies, still looking at his phone. Chanyeol has just sent him a selca of himself from the opposite side of the study hall. Because it was finals week, the usually fairly empty hall is quite packed with students trying to cram in materials at the last minute, much like Jongdae.

Jongdae groans again, lightly knocking his head on his book, “No, I don’t. I think it’s neat.”

“You think it’s easy.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Which I can assure you, it’s not.” He says before taking a quick snap of Jongdae’s current state and sends it to Chanyeol. Seeing Jongdae’s misery will probably make Chanyeol laugh.

“It can’t be worse than organic chem.”

“Didn’t they teach organic chem in high school?” Baekhyun receives a couple of laughing emojis and stickers from Chanyeol.

“It’s completely different!”

“Then get cramming buddy, the test tomorrow ain’t gonna do itself.” Baekhyun sends a quick reply to Chanyeol and locks his phone.

“I thought you were supposed to be helping me.” Jongdae eyes him.

“I arranged your flash cards.” Literally half a minute later, Baekhyun’s phone lit up once again. This time Chanyeol sends another selca.

“How nice of you.” Jongdae flatly says, “Where is Sehun anyway? He’s supposed to be here like an hour ago.”

“Dunno.” Chanyeol’s pouting in this one, and he’s wearing round glasses. Baekhyun laughs from his nose and wonders if he actually needs those or do they just add into his aesthetic for tonight.

“Ok—that’s it, is someone’s hair on fire because who  _ fuck  _ is texting you so much?” Jongdae says, snatching Baekhyun’s phone from his grasp.

“Hey!” Baekhyun protests.

“Park Chanyeol?” Jongdae says, swatting Baekhyun’s hands away. “You guys know each other? And why is he sending you so many selfies…” He trails off.

“We met a week ago.” Baekhyun forcefully grabs his phone and snatches it back, “Stop invading my privacy.”

“That’s...awesome.” Jongdae slowly grins, “Why didn’t you tell me you guys knew each other we could’ve hung out together!”

Baekhyun shrugs, “Didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Jongdae puts his pen in his mouth, “I’ve always wanted to introduce him to you.”

“Funny. I don’t remember you ever mentioning him.”

“That’s because you weren’t listening half the time!” Jongdae exasperatedly says. That’s true, Baekhyun does tune Jongdae out when he starts talking about random guys. “But none of that matters now since you both already know each other.”

“Why the fuck are we even talking about this?” Baekhyun sighs.

“Are you guys hitting it off?” Jongdae says, ignoring Baekhyun’s question. “He  _ is _ blowing up your phone as we speak.” He adds, waggling his eyebrows.

“We literally just met last week.” Baekhyun flatly says, putting his phone in his pocket.

“I didn’t ask if you were marrying the guy,” Jongdae rolls his eyes, “I asked if you guys are getting along?”

“No, he hates my guts.”

Jongdae hums, ignoring Baekhyun’s obviously sarcastic retort and leans back into his seat, “And you’re not in the slightest bit interested in him?” He twirls his pen.

Baekhyun groans. Of course this would lead to another conversation about his love life, “I told you a million times, I’m not interested in dating.”

“But dude...have you  _ seen  _ him?” Jongdae says, “He’s hot as fuck! And he’s totally your type.”

“I don’t even have a type.” Baekhyun scoffs, “And Chanyeol isn’t that great.”

He’s fucking lying and he knows it. You have to be blind to not consider Chanyeol, at least a little bit, attractive. With his arms and smile and deep voice and goofy personality and overall build, it’s hard not to ogle at him. Oh and there’s the electric guitar too.

“Uh-huh, sure you don’t.” Jongdae ignores him again, “Baekhyun, come on, he plays the guitar.”

“I know.”

“And the piano.”

“Yeah he told me—”

“And the drums.”

Wait, Baekhyun didn’t know that.

Fucking hell.

“What is he, a one-man band?” Baekhyun shakes his head in disbelief.

“He sings too.” Jongdae proudly adds, “Thus, one hundred percent your type.”

“For the love of god,” Baekhyun sighs, “lay off of my love life why don’t you?”

Jongdae holds his hands up in defeat, “Alright, fine, I’m just looking out for my best bro.”

Right at that moment, Baekhyun spots Sehun, who is wearing a white t-shirt and jeans like it’s in the middle of fucking summer, approaching their table. And it seems like he brought a friend.

“Hey Jongdae-hyung. How’s the studying going?”

“You were supposed to be here an hour ago, brat. I thought you were gonna help me.”

“And I am. I brought donuts,” Sehun lifts up the paper bag he was holding, “Oh, and I also brought him along. I hope you don’t mind.” He cocks his head to the said friend’s direction. He’s around the same height as Sehun, and he has black hair and slightly tanned skin.

“Hi, I’m Kim Jongin, Sehun’s roommate.” The friend—Jongin—says, looking at Baekhyun.

“Nice to see you again Jongin! That bastard over there is Baekhyun,” Jongdae motions his head towards Baekhyun, “The hermit friend I told you about.”

If he’s Sehun’s roommate, then he must be Chanyeol’s other roommate, the one that cancelled on the movie a few days ago. Baekhyun offers Jongin a friendly smile.

Sehun takes a seat next to Jongdae, and Jongin next to Baekhyun. “So, Jongin how come I’ve never seen you before?” Baekhyun says.

“The same reason you’ve never seen Chanyeol until three weeks ago,” Jongdae comments, “I met Jongin a few weeks ago in Potato Head. When you said no to Minseok’s offer, remember?”

“I also just moved into the apartment earlier this semester.” Jongin adds.

“Right after Yixing-hyung moved to China.” Sehun chirps in.

“So, uh, hyung. You’re also Chanyeol-hyung’s friend right?” Jongin asks Baekhyun rather timidly. Almost unsure whether or not he should be asking his senior questions. Quite polarizing when compared to Sehun.

Baekhyun nods, but before he could open his mouth Sehun beats him to it, “Chanyeol has not been able to shut up about you and how  _ cool  _ you were ever since you guys hung out at the pizza place.”

Baekhyun did not miss the immediate smirk Jongdae throws him, and he rolls his eyes.

Jongin, Baekhyun learns, is a performing arts major. He is also a part of their university’s dance team. Easy to laugh, has a lot of friends, popular and more serious when it comes to his studies than Sehun. Overall, he’s a nice kid. He’s not really chatty like both of his roommates, and is considerably much more polite when compared to Sehun. Not long after Sehun and Jongin’s arrival, Jongdae actually got back into actual studying.

While Sehun is busy helping Jongdae with his flashcards, Baekhyun talks about PUBG with Jongin, who he learns also plays the game, although he mostly does it due to the peer pressure from his two roommates. They later go to a nearby café to get coffee for Jongdae when he started dozing off every thirty minutes. He knows he’s not really helping his friend, but having company there lifted Jongdae’s spirits, especially during days when Minseok is unavailable.

A few hours later, around three hours past midnight, Baekhyun returns to his apartment, only to find that it’s still empty. Meaning, Kyungsoo is still with Chanyeol. Baekhyun shakes his head in amusement and opens Chanyeol’s chatroom,

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ You better ace that test tomorrow if you’re keeping my roommate for the entire night ;) _

He presses send, changes his clothes and goes out like a lamp.

Baekhyun wakes up to the sound of his phone ringing, he looks at the screen and sees that Chanyeol is calling him. He picks up,

“Baek! I managed to answer everything!” He hears Chanyeol’s loud voice through his phone’s speaker. He feels like Chanyeol’s voice is a tad deeper on the phone, or maybe it’s because he’s still half asleep.

“Hm.” He manages to grumble in response.

“On the test!”

“Congrats.” Baekhyun wanted to sound a bit more enthusiastic, but he’s literally talking with his eyes still glued together.

He hears a soft chuckle form the other line, “You wanna have some lunch?”

“Lunch?”

“Yeah dummy. It’s eleven-thirty.”

Baekhyun peers his eyes open and glances at his alarm clock, and  _ holy shit _ , he definitely overslept.

“Uh yeah, sure. Let me just shower first.” He rubs his eyes and reluctantly stands up from his bed. Baekhyun hangs up and showers. He opens his closet to and puts on a random shirt before grabbing his coat.

He makes his way to a small cafe located near the campus library called Dede’s. Chanyeol insists that the place serves the best breakfast food he’s ever tasted. Baekhyun thinks he’s probably exaggerating, but he’s starving, having missed breakfast, so he’ll take Chanyeol’s word for it.

“Someone looks well rested.” Chanyeol teases as soon as he sees Baekhyun.

“Yeah well, I guess I have Kim Junmyeon to thank.” Baekhyun glances at Jongin who’s standing beside Chanyeol. Wow, even next to Jongin, Chanyeol is still considerably taller.

“Oh, you’ve met Jongin, right?” Chanyeol gestures to his friend.

“Hey,” Jongin waves at him.

“Good to see you again, Jongin.”

They enter Dede’s and Baekhyun finds the place quite cozy. It reminds him of those western bed and breakfasts. It’s decorated with mostly wooden furniture and what he guesses to be white lilies. It’s fairly crowded but it’s not to the point that it becomes stuffy.

All three of them sits down at the table next to the big glass window. Chanyeol enthusiastically recommends the banana pancakes to Baekhyun, while Chanyeol himself orders a sandwich. As for Jongin, he opted for waffles.

“Jongin here is a dancing prodigy.” Chanyeol says, taking a bite of his sandwich, “been dancing since he was five.”

“Can you not?” Jongin cringes, hiding his face behind his tea mug.

Chanyeol looks at Jongin, “But it’s true!”

“Sehun did mention you were the captain of the school’s dance team the other night…” Baekhyun admits, the banana pancakes are pretty darn good. He could see himself getting brunch here often. Maybe he should bring Kyungsoo along.

“He also volunteers at the daycare in his free time,” Chanyeol adds while he sips his coffee that Baekhyun assumes to taste like medicine.

“Really?”

Jongin smiles shyly, staring into the inside of his mug, “Yeah, I really like kids.”

“You should see him with his niece, you can tell he’ll be a great dad.” Chanyeol takes another bite of his sandwich, “He also has not one, not two, but  _ three _ dogs.” He boasts. Baekhyun eyes Chanyeol, squinting his eyes. Is he trying to auction Jongin off?

“That’s really, uh, neat.” Baekhyun says, unsure how to respond to all of the Jongin fun facts that he was bombarded with. “You know, Kyungsoo also likes dogs.” He adds.

Jongin laughs looking at Chanyeol, seemingly delighted now that the focus has shifted away from him, “Looks like you don’t have to worry about him not liking Toben now, hyung.”

“Oh, he will  _ love  _ Toben.” Baekhyun smirks, “His family used to have a toy poodle when we were kids.”

“You’re kidding.” Chanyeol says.

“Well how about that!” Jongin says, slapping Chanyeol’s back rather harshly, making him flinch, “Maybe you guys are meant to be.”

“How come you’ve never mentioned this?” Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun shrugs, “Never crossed my mind until now.”

“You can woo him using Toben.” Jongin adds, smirking at Chanyeol.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Baekhyun says, “Chanyeol’s been doing a pretty good job wooing my roommate on his own. He’s pretty fond of you.”

“I don’t know if him offering me to study together can be considered as fond.” Chanyeol says.

“How many times do I have to tell you,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Kyungsoo doesn’t normally do things like that. Ever.” And it’s true, Kyungsoo doesn’t really voluntarily spend time with anyone other than Baekhyun.

Chanyeol sighs, still looking seemingly unconvinced at the thought of his crush having an interest in him. “I just don’t wanna get my hopes up.”

“He studied with you until two in the morning didn’t he?” Jongin asks, taking a sip of his tea.

“Well yeah—”

“Did you force him to?”

“No—”

“Then he doesn’t mind spending time with you.” Jongin shrugs.

Chanyeol remains quiet for a few seconds, he then looks up at Jongin, “So you guys think I should ask him out?” he asks, shifting his eyes to Baekhyun.

Jongin nods. “Definitely.”

“What do you think, Baek? Should I ask him out?” Chanyeol turns to Baekhyun.

Admittedly, Baekhyun doesn’t think this could end badly. “Well… I don’t think he’ll say no,” he answers. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo going on a date. If Kyungsoo says yes then it’ll be the first date Kyungsoo’s had in  _ years _ .

“Alright, I’ll do it then. Before Christmas break.” Chanyeol crosses his arms, nodding to himself. “Maybe you should do the same.” Baekhyun hears him whisper to Jongin.

Jongin shoots Chanyeol a glare before turning to Baekhyun, “So are you going home for Christmas break?”

Obviously aware of Jongin purposely trying to change the topic, Baekhyun decides to go along with it, “Actually, no.” He says, “My parents are overseas.”

“On vacation?” Jongin asks.

Baekhyun bobs his head, “Something like that.” Technically, his parents are away on vacation. Just a very separate vacation...with two different people.

“Staying at school isn’t so bad.” Chanyeol adds, “I’m staying too. Parents visiting my sister in Europe for Christmas.”

Jongin squints his eyes at Chanyeol. “Liar, you’ve been dreading about being alone on campus for two weeks.”

Chanyeol smirks and looks directly at Baekhyun, “That’s before I found out I would have someone to hangout with.” He says, leaning back into his seat.

They finish their meal and split the bill. Chanyeol then apologizes that he has an errand and suggests that Jongin walks Baekhyun home. Baekhyun assures Jongin that he’s perfectly capable on getting home on his own, but the kid was almost as persistent as Chanyeol.

His walk with Jongin turned out to be rather uneventful and quiet. Jongin was obviously much less talkative than Chanyeol, but Baekhyun did see him trying to make small conversations to make the entire thing less awkward.

♡♡

Baekhyun finds himself being invited out by Chanyeol pretty often over the next week. Surprisingly he finds himself always saying yes. Spending time with Chanyeol doesn’t drain his energy. Jongin also tags along most of the time, and Baekhyun doesn’t mind. Jongin is funny and likable, even if he doesn’t talk as much.

Jongdae also sends him ridiculous messages about how Chanyeol is threatening his spot as Baekhyun’s best friend. Most of which Baekhyun ignored.

Just before the start of Christmas break, Baekhyun hears from Sehun that Chanyeol had asked Kyungsoo out on a movie. Successfully he might add.

Curiosity got the better of him and he starts bombarding Kyungsoo with questions the moment he opens the door of the apartment, “I heard you saw the Mary Poppins movie with Chanyeol.” Baekhyun casually asks from their couch.

“I did.”

A few seconds of silence ensues, “And...? How was it?” Baekhyun expectantly looks at Kyungsoo.

“I liked the one with Julie Andrews better.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “I meant the date.” Kyungsoo isn’t stupid, but Baekhyun often forgets how dense he can be.

Kyungsoo turns towards Baekhyun and raises an eyebrow. “Date?”

“He asked you out, didn’t he?”

“He said he wanted to thank me for the tutoring.” Kyungsoo says, hanging his coat.

“Yeah, by asking you out on a date.”

Kyungsoo frowns at him, “It wasn’t a date.”

“Two people? Movie? Isn’t that what people consider a date nowadays?” Maybe Kyungsoo’s been out of the dating pool for too long.

Kyungsoo shrugs, sitting down next to Baekhyun on the couch and reaches for the remote, “Didn’t you also see a movie with him?”

“That’s completely different!”

“How?”

“I paid for the snacks.” Baekhyun says, “And his other friend was supposed to be there.”

“I also paid for my own ticket.” Kyungsoo says while flipping through tv networks, not caring that Baekhyun was in the middle of watching the newest season of The Bachelor. Honestly not even five minutes in and Kyungsoo’s already playing couch commando.

“What? He didn’t pay for the entire thing?”

“He offered, but I couldn’t let him do that.” Kyungsoo explains.

Oh god, Baekhyun can already picture Chanyeol giving up on turning the entire thing into a date, poor guy. “So...he lets you pay?”

Kyungsoo nods.

“I don’t know why you keep saying he was talkative though.” Kyungsoo adds after another few seconds of silence.

“What do you mean?”

“Chanyeol’s never talked that much.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, Chanyeol is probably more talkative than he was and that is saying something. “Are you sure you didn’t just tune him out?”

Kyungsoo ignores his question, already tuning Baekhyun’s voice out of his mind like he always does. He probably did the same thing with Chanyeol. Kyungsoo never was a fan of mindless chatter.

Everyone goes home for Christmas break over the next few days and Baekhyun is left alone with no one to bother him. Except for the giant puppy that is Chanyeol. But even Chanyeol doesn’t seem to drag him outside that much, maybe he was one of those rare few that actually listens to Baekhyun when he said he wanted some alone time.

For the first couple of days, Baekhyun enjoys his solitude by mostly staying in his room and venturing outside to grab instant ramen from the convenience store. Baekhyun lies down on his bed after winning his ninth chicken dinner that day and looks at the clock. It was only eight o’clock in the evening. He’s done nothing but play games for the last three days and maybe he’s actually starting to get sick of it.

He stares at his phone at looks at the last message Chanyeol had sent him. He begins to type a reply, saying he’s bored. Chanyeol usually has a weird entertaining story that’ll make Baekhyun laugh. Like the one where he lost his pet ferret.

Baekhyun continues to stare at the chat, Chanyeol usually replies at an impressive speed when he’s not busy. But for tonight it seems Chanyeol is busy after all. Baekhyun sighs, locks his phone and goes out to the living room to watch some TV.

Not much later, Baekhyun was flipping through random channels when his phone that was on the coffee table started vibrating. Expecting a message from Chanyeol, he instead sees an incoming call.

“Hello?”

“Come downstairs.”

“What—wait are you outside?” Baekhyun says confused, “Chanyeol it’s less than two degrees out.” He looks out his window and sees a rather gloomy grey sky, the sun nowhere to be seen.

“Better hurry up then. Oh, and bring your coat.”

Baekhyun puts on a random jacket, grabs his winter coat and rushes down to the lobby. From afar Baekhyun catches a glimpse of Chanyeol’s back, sitting on the small staircase leading up to his building.

“Are you purposely  _ trying  _ to die from hypothermia?”

Chanyeol turns around and gives him a lopsided grin, suddenly the air around them seem slightly brighter. Or maybe Baekhyun’s just hallucinating. Or it was just Chanyeol’s incredibly white teeth blinding him.

“What are you doing?”

“You said you were bored.” Chanyeol shrugs. Baekhyun gapes at him, Chanyeol said it so casually as if he didn’t just run across campus under the notion that Baekhyun was dying of boredom.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Come on, let’s go.” Chanyeol says, grabbing Baekhyun’s arm.

Baekhyun tries to resist by pulling his hand back from Chanyeol’s grip, albeit unsuccessful. Thus he resorts to protesting, “It’s fucking freezing!”

“I have something to show you.”

Fuck his life, “....ugh fine.” Baekhyun gives in, there’s really no reasoning with Chanyeol. He finds it harder to say no to the giant compared to his other friends. Maybe it was because Chanyeol’s a lot nicer too.  Or maybe it was the way he looked like a kicked puppy when Baekhyun says no to him, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Throughout their walk--for Chanyeol at least, Baekhyun feels like he’s lightly jogging by keeping up with Chanyeol’s long strides--Baekhyun notices that Chanyeol has no intention of letting go of his hand. Vacantly staring at their intertwined hands, Baekhyun contemplates on pulling his hand away. Not that he doesn’t like it, he personally doesn’t mind the hand holding, he actually thinks it’s kind of nice, especially in this weather. Chanyeol’s palm was big and warm. Chanyeol himself doesn’t seem to mind either. It’s just, shouldn’t it be a bit weird to be holding a friend’s hand  _ this  _ long?

Baekhyun snaps out of his thoughts when Chanyeol suddenly stops. He looks up and finds himself in a rather familiar neighborhood. They were just a few blocks down from his usual pizza joint. He lifts his head and finds a pink neon sign shaped like an ice cream cone.

He turns towards Chanyeol, “Chanyeol—this is an ice cream shop.”

“It’s the one I told you about, remember?” Chanyeol casually says, dragging him inside, hands still intertwined.

“Yeah, I remember, but what are we doing in an ice cream shop in winter?”

“We’re getting ice cream?” Chanyeol looks at him innocently, as if it was summer outside.

“What…?” Baekhyun’s frown deepens, not really annoyed just confused, “I don’t think you heard me—Chanyeol, it’s fucking  _ winter. _ ”

“Ice cream tastes better in winter.”

“Who the fuck—”

“Baek, just trust me.” He grins. “Strawberry sound good to you?” He offers.

Baekhyun nods. He looks like an excited overgrown puppy and Baekhyun doesn’t have the heart to yell at him anymore. After all he did run all the way to Baekhyun’s apartment just because he said he was bored.

“Here.” Chanyeol hands him a cone of strawberry ice cream “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

Damn it. Chanyeol was right, the ice cream was great. It was probably one of the best ice creams Baekhyun has ever eaten in his life.

“Good, huh?” Chanyeol nudges him.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Yes, it’s delicious. Happy?” He admits.

A grin creeps onto Chanyeol’s face almost immediately.

“Stop smiling, dumbass. I doubt that it’s because it’s winter. That place probably just happen to sell really good ice cream.” Baekhyun glares at the couple walking past them who were staring a bit too long. Is it really that bizarre to eat ice cream during winter?

“It’s usually packed during the summer. So I always eat there when it’s colder.” Chanyeol says, ignoring the fact that Baekhyun just glared at strangers. “plus, if you eat it in winter, it won’t melt!”

“It’s sticking to my tongue.”

Chanyeol laughs at Baekhyun’s exaggeration, “But you’re having fun, aren’t you?”

Baekhyun grunts in response. He really is. Long walks and good ice cream is probably a combination that Baekhyun can never hate. Plus, he likes going on walks during winter if not for the cold. It’s just so much prettier during winter, especially when there’s residue of snow.

Chanyeol ruffles his hair “Such a grumpy puppy.”

He’s the puppy..?! “If I’m a puppy, then you’re an overgrown mutt.” Baekhyun protests, he looks at the ground and notices the significant difference in size of his and Chanyeol’s footprints on the snow. He swears, one of Chanyeol’s ancestors must be part giant or something.

The response that he got from Chanyeol is a loud deep laugh and a nudge, making Baekhyun almost lose his balance. “It’s nice when there’s no one around, huh,” Chanyeol says after his laughter dies down.

It’s true that it’s so much nicer when there’s no one that you can bump into and forced to small talk with. Over the course of their walk, they’ve only bumped into like five people, and that’s including the couple that Baekhyun glared at. “It was nicer last year though, I didn’t have some asshole forcing me to eat ice cream.”

“You didn’t go home last year too?”

“Yup. And the year before that.”

“Parents always on vacation…?” Chanyeol asks carefully, raising an eyebrow.

Baekhyun scoffs. “More like parents doesn’t give a shit about their son.” He says, without giving much thought.

A frown forms on Chanyeol’s face, “They don’t care about you spending Christmas alone?”

His parents probably don’t care if he gets hit by a truck. “Not when they’re busy with their own lives.” They never even bother to call, not even on his birthday. Baekhyun’s pretty sure they don’t even remember they had him as a son at this point.

“What do you mean?” 

“Divorced.”

He sees Chanyeol’s eyes slightly widen, he starts waving his arms around, clearly panicking, “Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Chill. It happened a long time ago anyway.”

Chanyeol nods, trying to be understanding. “How old were you? You know when they, uh, seperated?”

Baekhyun appreciates the way Chanyeol tries his hardest to not look at Baekhyun with a pitiful expression. He doesn’t want pity, he’s been fine living life by himself and growing up with absent parents anyway. “I think I was in the sixth grade so, probably around eleven?” He elaborates, “But it’s not all bad, I have a pretty cool big brother. Seven years older. Not really close either, though.”

“Why aren’t you spending Christmas with him then?”

“Like I said, he’s cool and all, but we’re not really close. I don’t want to intrude on him and his wife. I don’t really like her. Plus they’re already watching over Mongryong for me so I don’t really wanna burden them.” Baekhyun explains. He and Baekbeom were never really close even when they were growing up. Maybe it was the fact that they had a seven-year age difference or maybe it was because Baekbeom rarely stayed in the family home. Baekhyun can understand though, he must’ve not wanted to be a part of their dysfunctional family.

“You don’t like her? Did she do something to you?” Chanyeol asks, slightly alarmed.

Baekhyun sighs, “No. She brainwashed my brother with all that soulmate bullshit.” Baekhyun explains, “I don’t think she even loves him. Just in love with the idea of him being her soulmate.” They met and got engaged in the span of two months. Baekhyun doesn’t care what anyone says, there’s no way his brother is actually in  _ love  _ with someone he knew at the time.

Baekbeom probably didn’t think through the whole thing either, having to find his soulmate was his ticket out of the house and out of the family for good. His brother took the chance to leave the moment it was presented to him and Baekhyun doesn’t hate him for it. If anything, he’s jealous.

Chanyeol nods. Baekhyun is relieved that Chanyeol doesn’t ask further details about his family. He’s never too keen on discussing his family matters with anyone. Even Jongdae doesn’t know.

Kyungsoo knows, but that’s because he was the only one who was truly there for Baekhyun during the entire mess.

“What about you? Why didn’t you go visit your sister with your parents?” Baekhyun asks, trying to shift the topic. He hopes that Chanyeol’s family isn’t as messed up as his was, or else his effort in changing the mood of the topic would be useless.

“I wanted to but, my parents are staying there for a month.” Chanyeol says, “They’re waiting for my sister’s due date.”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “She’s having a kid?”

“Yup. Sometime in January.”

“You’re gonna become an uncle.” Baekhyun can picture Chanyeol playing with kids. He seems to be the type to enjoy having kids around. Unlike Baekhyun, he finds toddlers terrifying, that and an irrational fear of accidentally dropping babies when he’s holding them.

“Sure am.” Chanyeol grins. “We should probably get back. It’s getting pretty cold.”

“Oh,  _ now _ you’re cold.”

They walk back to Baekhyun’s apartment.

“Baek, give me your hand.”

Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol like he’s grown a second head.

“You’re cold. Give me your hand.” He repeats

“What—”

“I feel bad for dragging you out into the cold.”

Chanyeol gently grabs Baekhyun’s hand. His hand is warmer compared to Baekhyun. And larger too. Much larger.

“Is this fine?”

Baekhyun nods. He can’t seem to move his mouth.

And it’s not because of the cold.

“Better, right? Now you have one less freezing hand.” Chanyeol begins to rub Baekhyun’s hand with his thumb in what Baekhyun guesses is an attempt to keep them warm.

This is weird, Baekhyun thinks. Or it  _ should _ be weird. He’s holding hands with another guy for fuck’s sake. A guy that he’s helping to set up with his childhood best friend.

Maybe Chanyeol does this with everyone. He is a really nice guy after all. Does that mean Chanyeol holds Sehun and Jongin’s hands too when they’re cold? Baekhyun can’t really picture that happening...but maybe he should ask them later. Just to be sure.

Chanyeol doesn’t let go of Baekhyun’s hand up until they reached his apartment.

“I hope you’re at least not bored anymore.” Chanyeol says smiling, finally letting go of Baekhyun’s hand. Right now, Baekhyun can’t even imagine living through any boring moments when he’s with Chanyeol.

“Definitely not.” He says, returning Chanyeol’s smile.

“I have successfully completed my mission then.” He pats himself on the back, eliciting a laugh from Baekhyun.

Dork.

“I guess I’ll see—“

“Do you wanna come inside?” Baekhyun blurts out, cutting Chanyeol off just as he was about to say goodbye. “I mean do you wanna just—I dunno hang and marathon Christmas movies or something.” He points inside.

Chanyeol looks surprised for a split second before a smile begins to creep on his face. “Sure," he says as he follows Baekhyun inside the building.

“Make yourself at home,” Baekhyun says when he turns on the lights to his apartment. After taking off his shoes, he directly heads towards his bedroom with Chanyeol following him.

“This is where the magic happens.” Baekhyun opens the door to his room, Chanyeol immediately peers over his shoulder. “And by magic, I meant where I spent many, many hours of my life on the computer,” he adds.

“It’s cozy. No wonder you never go out.” Chanyeol says following Baekhyun inside, then he starts wandering around the room. Something catches his attention that causes him to stop in front of Baekhyun’s drawer. Grinning, he picks up an old framed photo of Baekhyun with Jongdae when they were freshmen.

“That’s bullshit. I go out to hangout with you at least four times a week.” Baekhyun says, sitting on his bed.

Chanyeol puts down the photo and then turns his attention to Baekhyun’s PC instead, “That’s true. I don’t know what Jongdae was going on about.”

Baekhyun’s eyes continue to follow Chanyeol as he moves about the room. “I told you he exaggerates.”

“It’s because I’m better company than him, right?” Chanyeol grins, throwing himself on the bed, his legs taking up most of the space. Baekhyun’s pretty sure the guy has to sleep diagonally in order to fit into normal sized beds.

Baekhyun laughs heartily. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“Where is Jongdae anyway?” Chanyeol asks, turning his head to look at Baekhyun.

“On a ski trip with his boyfriend.” Jongdae mentioned something about wanting a romantic getaway with his boyfriend in Sapporo. Personally, Baekhyun doesn’t understand the appeal of going to a ski resort when it’s winter and freezing in Korea already.

“Oh yeah. Minseok-hyung did mention something about a vacation this winter.” Chanyeol says, grabbing a pillow hand bringing it to his chest.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, “You know Minseok?”

“We go to the gym together.”

“Of course, you do.” Baekhyun wonders how many mutual friends can two people have? Maybe he should ask Junmyeon if he knew Chanyeol or not, just in case he happens to be Chanyeol’s next door neighbor when they were kids or something.

“We first met at PH though. A month ago actually. Around the same time I met you.” Chanyeol then adds.

This piques Baekhyun’s interest. “How did you guys meet?”

“I was doing a gig and Jongdae introduced us.” He says.

It all comes back to Baekhyun, not too long ago, when he bumped into Minseok on a particularly chilly evening, he did mention about some guy performing something at PH. “Oh my god. You were the hot biochem major performing that night.” He blurts with his eyes wide.

“I was a what—” Chanyeol sits up on and uses his elbows for support, throwing Baekhyun a strange look.

“You know, I was supposed to go to Potato Head that night,” Baekhyun cuts him off. “I bumped into Minseok on my way home and he offered.” But then of course he rejected the said offer and went home instead to pester his roommate and play video games.

“Really?” This time, it’s Chanyeol’s eyes that goes wide. It makes him slightly comical, due to the fact him already having large eyes. “Why didn’t you? We could’ve met then!”

Baekhyun snorts. “We met literally the very next day.” He’s kinda glad he didn’t go to Potato Head that night, he probably would’ve brushed Chanyeol off as some bar dude with an annoyingly handsome face. Knowing himself, he wouldn’t even have given Chanyeol a chance let alone get to know him.

“Hey, every hour counts. We could have had a lot of fun in those extra twelve hours.” Chanyeol laughs as he lies back down on his back. “So why didn’t you go?”

“Dunno. Didn’t really feel like going out?” He says truthfully.

Chanyeol nods in acknowledgement. “So what was that about me being a hot biochem major?” He says, suddenly sitting up and turning towards Baekhyun with a teasing smirk on his face.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and hits him with a pillow.

They decided to watch a movie on Baekhyun’s iPad on his bed. After browsing through Baekhyun’s netflix account for a good twenty minutes, they finally settled on watching "Elf."

Personally, Baekhyun has seen the movie for quite a number of times already, so his mind drifts away somewhere else. “Oh yeah, why did you let Kyungsoo pay during your date?”

“He said he was uncomfortable if I paid for the whole thing.” Chanyeol answers, eyes still glued to the screen.

“So you just let him pay for his own ticket?”

Chanyeol groans in response. It seems like he’s aware of how he lets himself be friendzoned by his crush. “I didn’t want him to feel weird!”

“Then you should have made it clear that it was a date. He thought the whole thing was some kind of weird 'thank you' gesture.”

“I thought me asking him out to a movie was pretty clear.”

“Not to Kyungsoo. He hasn’t been on dates in five years. No wonder it went over his head.” Baekhyun mumbles under his breath.

“Kyungsoo hasn’t dated in years?” Chanyeol turns towards Baekhyun.

Shit, he didn’t mean to say that out loud. “Never mind that! What’s this I hear about you not talking much around him?” Baekhyun asks, hoping to distract Chanyeol from what he just said.

Chanyeol remains quiet for a moment before shrugging, “I dunno I just find it hard to talk to him. I don’t know him that well.”

“You knew him before you knew me.” Baekhyun reminds him.

“I know, but it’s different with you. ”Chanyeol says, “You’re...just... I don’t know. You get me. Like I said, it’s easy talking to you.” He adds, struggling to convey his thoughts.

“Idiot. It’s probably because you don’t have a disgustingly massive crush on me.”

”Hey, my crush isn’t massive! It’s—it’s uh, just a normal sized crush?” Chanyeol stammers, his big ears turning into a light shade of red.

Halfway through the movie Baekhyun noticesd that Chanyeol has dozed off. He takes the opportunity to study Chanyeol’s features and he can’t help but smile at how peaceful and innocent Chanyeol looks when he’s asleep.

His bangs are slightly covering his eyes. His hair looks really soft too, it makes Baekhyun wonder how it would feel against his skin. And there’s also his slightly parted lips. Baekhyun stops himself before his thoughts go any further down that hole.

There’s really no denying it, Park Chanyeol is fucking handsome. It should be a crime to look  _ that  _ good and have such an attractive personality. It’s infuriating. Baekhyun wonders just how does Chanyeol stay single for so long? Girls and boys must be throwing themselves at him every chance they get.

Catching himself staring, rather creepily, in his opinion, he shifts his attention back to the movie until he also falls asleep.

The next morning, Baekhyun wakes up and finds himself staring directly at Chanyeol’s chest. He looks up and realizes that his and Chanyeol’s face were only a few centimeters apart. It was so close that he could see the tiny mole on the bridge of Chanyeol’s nose.

They must’ve somehow cuddled in their sleep. Baekhyun blames himself, he’s been told that he likes to hug things in his sleep. Plus, it was cold outside.

Baekhyun tries to detangle himself by slowly pushing Chanyeol’s chest away. Of course his chest is rock hard.

Despite Baekhyun’s best efforts, Chanyeol shifts and grumbles, “Baek? What time is it?” His voice deeper than usual, if that was even possible.

“Almost ten,” Baekhyun answers, getting up from the bed and stretchinges his arms.

“What?” Chanyeol’s eyes flutter open, he immediately sits up, supporting his weight with one arm and rubs his eyes with another.

“We, uh, fell asleep halfway through the movie.” He replies, recalling the last memory he has from the night before. He remembers inappropriately staring at Chanyeol while he was a sleep, and nothing else much. t much else.

Chanyeol stares at Baekhyun quietly and  _ giggles. _

“What?” He asks rather rudely.

“Your hair. It looks funny.” Chanyeol says, his smile not faltering despite Baekhyun’s snark.

“Oh, you’re one to talk.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “I would offer you breakfast—or, uh, brunch, but I don’t feel like burning down my kitchen.”

Chanyeol stands up and ruffles Baekhyun’s hair, messing it up even more, “I’ll make us breakfast then.”

Baekhyun tries to swat his hand away. “You cook?”

“A little bit, yeah. My mom owns a restaurant so I guess I know a few things.” Of course, this bastard knows how to cook. He’s perfect.

Minutes later, Chanyeol makes his way to the kitchen. He bends down to look at the inside of Baekhyun’s fridge and cabinet before deciding that to make cheese kimchi fried rice. Once he’s done cooking, he practically screams Baekhyun’s name to call him for breakfast. They sit opposite each other in the dining table, and then that’s when Baekhyun realizes how good the food looks. He grabs his spoon and scoops in a large amount of rice.

Somewhere in the middle of chewing down his food, Baekhyun hears Chanyeol giggling again.

“What now?” He asks rather rudely, looking up at Chanyeol while still chewing.

Chanyeol snorts. “You’re uh—you look like you’re  _ really _ enjoying your meal.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and swallows his food. “Oh, spare me, this is the only real meal I’ve had since Kyungsoo went home.” It’s also the best meal he’s had in weeks, he’s gotta say Chanyeol’s kimchi fried rice might just rival Kyungsoo’s cooking.

Chanyeol lets out a soft chuckle and remains both silent and stagnant. “You know,” hHe starts slowly. “You should just stay at my place for the rest of winter break.”

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol again, eyes wide in surprise. “What?”

Chanyeol shrugs, he grabs the glass in front of him and drinks before he answers. “We already see each other almost every day anyway. And it’s Christmas eve tonight, you shouldn’t have to spend it alone.”

Still slightly gawking at the taller, Baekhyun answers. “Used to it, remember? And I really don’t wanna burden you.” If he stays with Chanyeol for the entire winter break, then Chanyeol will have to cook dinner for two people instead of one. Not to mention that Baekhyun isn’t exactly the neatest person in campus, if anything, he has a habit of leaving all of his stuff lying around. Chanyeol will probably kick him out by the end of the week, in his opinion.

“You know, you won't. I could definitely use the company. I’ll even cook you real food.” Chanyeol reassures him with his signature toothy grin.

“Are you sure?” He asks, giving Chanyeol one last chance to back out on what Baekhyun thinks is a bad offer. Chanyeol doesn’t exactly know what he’s getting himself into.

Chanyeol leans back into his chair, crosses his arms and then nods. “A One-hundred percent.”

After breakfast, Baekhyun looks around his room and contemplates on what he should bring to Chanyeol’s apartment. Baekhyun grabs a random sweater from his drawer, looks at it and ends up tossing it aside. He’s not too sure if he’ll need that many clothes, anyway. If he needed anything he could always just borrow one of Chanyeol’s clothes (although it he would probably be drawn in them), or he could just run back here. He’s pretty sure he won't be going out much since it’s way too cold, but he grabs one of his warmer coats and shoves it into his duffle bag just in case Chanyeol tries to drag him out of the apartment.

Once he’s done taking his hot shower, Chanyeol teases him by making a comment on his strawberry scented soap--the guy complimented him, but it makes Baekhyun rolls his eyes anyway. Probably because he’s having flashbacks of Sehun saying he smells like a cake. Shortly after, Baekhyun suggests that they should just immediately go to Chanyeol’s place. Partially because Baekhyun’s bored and he is rather curious about Chanyeol, Jongin and Sehun’s apartment.

“Wow, it’s big, but I suppose someone your size does need the space,” He says the moment he walks through the door of the apartment. It’s quite different from Baekhyun and Kyungsoo’s apartment, mainly because this one has three bedrooms instead of two and it’s not as neat. Well, at least not as neat as Kyungsoo’s part of the apartment.

“Sehun never invited you here?” Chanyeol asks, grabbing the duffle bag from Baekhyun’s hand, and puts it down near the coffee table, in front of the couch and a fairly big television screen, it’s much bigger than what he has in his apartment. Baekhyun wonders if all three of them chipped in when they bought it or if one of them is secretly rich.

“No. I’ve only been to the lobby a few times.” Baekhyun says, walking around the apartment, trying to find if the trio has any embarrassing items lying around that he can use as blackmail material some time in the future.

“Make yourself at home.” Chanyeol sits on the sofa, putting his feet up on the coffee table and hugging one of the sofa pillows, making himself comfortable.

“Okay, but is there like anything here you don’t want me to see?” Baekhyun opens the door that leads to what appears to be their shoe closet.

“Like what? Body parts?” Chanyeol snorts.

“You can still be a serial killer, for all I know.” Baekhyun responds with a shrug, “Too charming and smooth...” He adds, mumbling mostly to himself before sitting and settling down next to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol’s big ears must’ve enhanced his hearing because it seems he’s has caught every word. “You think I’m charming and smooth?” He asks, cocking his head.

Baekhyun scoffs, maybe he should’ve said slightly narcissistic instead of charming. “I’m implying that you’re a psychopath and that’s what you’re focusing on?” He says with an amused smile.

Chanyeol laughs, clapping his hands together. He always does that when he laughs, always looking like he needs to hit something or someone, and when there’s nothing to hit, he hits his own head. It’s probably one of the most endearing things about Chanyeol so far.

Long conversations aren’t usually something that Baekhyun partakes in, but he often finds himself getting absorbed in Chanyeol’s stories. Jongdae says that Chanyeol is more attractive when he’s mute, but Baekhyun disagrees. He likes Chanyeol when he talks, and the way he has random bursts of energy mid- sentence because he got too excited. He finds it adorable.

Oddly enough, Chanyeol seem to like it when Baekhyunhe talks as well. Baekhyun is in the middle of his infamous ‘I tripped over Mongryong and broke my ankle, as a result’ story when he notices that Chanyeol is deeply invested, almond shaped eyes directly looking at him, nodding his head everytime Baekhyun speaks. He always seem genuinely interested in what Baekhyun has to say since day one. Baekhyun thinks that it’s a nice feeling to have someone care even about the mundane tidbits of your life.

When Baekhyun was done with his story, Chanyeol rushes to the kitchen and comes back holding one can of soda, a bottle of one beer and a bag of oreos. He then gives Baekhyun the soda and settles back down on his bed. Baekhyun wonders if he purposely gave him the non-alcoholic beverage because he was considerate of Baekhyun being a lightweight, or if he just ran out of beer. It’s probably the latter, Baekhyun did only mention his alcohol intolerance once.

(Later that night, after what must have been hours of laughters and constant conversations, Baekhyun opens the fridge learns there were plenty of beer in the fridge.)

Christmas eve was spent with long talks that elongated late into the night. Luckily, Chanyeol’s bed is as equally large in size as he is, so they both fit into it quite comfortably. Chanyeol was strumming his guitar and humming random melodies, when Baekhyun finds himself drifting asleep to his warm voice.

This time around, Baekhyun wakes up alone in Chanyeol’s bed and notices the blanket that’s covering him--Chanyeol must’ve put it on him while he was asleep. Baekhyun rubs his eyes and hears something that resembles caroling from outside the bedroom, he then looks around the room and sees that Chanyeol is nowhere in sight.

He ventures outside to find Chanyeol with his gigantic built, sitting cross legged on the floor, decorating what seems to be a tiny Christmas tree. If Baekhyun was a morning person, he would’ve thought the whole thing was adorable. Unfortunately, he’s not.

Chanyeol appears to have heard his footsteps and turns around. “Morning, sunshine,” he says, flashing his annoyingly lovable grin.

“Ugh, shut up,” Baekhyun grumbles, dragging his feet to the couch. “What time is it?” He lies down on the couch and closes his eyes, hoping to continue his slumber even though it’s virtually impossible Chanyeol blasting Christmas tunes so loudly.

“Seven.”

“Why are you singing to Christmas songs at seven in the morning?” Baekhyun peers one eye open, looking at Chanyeol.

“Because it’s Christmas?”

“Can’t Christmas wait until at least ten?” Baekhyun groans, “and what in god’s name are you wearing?” He asks, noticing the red and green knitted sweater with what seems to be a snowman in the middle holding what Baekhyun guesses to be a cake.

Chanyeol looks down and pulls on the hem of his sweater. “It’s a Christmas sweater. My mom sends me one every year.”

_ Oh, so it’s one of those family Christmas sweaters _ . Suddenly Baekhyun can’t seem to find the right word to describe said sweater. “It’s…it’s, uh—“

“Ugly. I know, but it’s cozy and it makes it more festive.” Chanyeol chuckles. “And you’re wearing one too.” He stands up and grabs something from one of the boxes near the Christmas tree,

“Wearing what?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

“My sweater from last year.” He nonchalantly says, as he walks towards Baekhyun, handing him the sweater.

Baekhyun looks back and forth between Chanyeol and the green sweater in his hands. “Chanyeol, you’re like twice my size. I’m going to be swallowed whole.”

“Just try it on first. You can take it off if you hate it so much.” Chanyeol is looking at him with his big pretty puppy dog eyes and Baekhyun can’t find it in him to reject Chanyeol’s request, especially not on Christmas. He groans and snatches the sweater from Chanyeol’s hand.

It takes Baekhyun five minutes to come to terms with how he looks in the sweater before he decides to come out of the bathroom. “I look ridiculous,” he says. He feels slightly embarrassed, the sweater, just like he predicted swallowed him whole. Now, he’s not really sure whether to curse his own built or Chanyeol’s overall gigantic size.

The moment Chanyeol turns his head towards him, a cheeky grin appears on his face. “You have sweater paws. It’s cute.”

“It  _ is  _ cozy,” Baekhyun admits. Given that he never really got into the festive spirit enough to wear Christmas sweaters, he always had this expectation that they were ugly  _ and  _ itchy but the one he has on right now feels soft and warm on his skin.

Chanyeol takes out his phone, grin still intact. “Let’s take a picture—“

“Absolutely fucking not—“ Baekhyun takes a step backwards. There’s no way in hell he’s documenting this moment, not when he looks this stupid.

“I made you breakfast,” Chanyeol quickly says, his lips quirking into a smirk.

This little fuck. “Are you bribing me?”

Chanyeol responds with a shrug.  “I’m just saying, I woke up early made some pancakes and made coffee, with extra milk and sugar.” His eyes suddenly fall directly on Baekhyun’s. He’s definitely bribing Baekhyun and he knows it.

Not being able to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, Baekhyun groans. “I was wrong you’re not bribing me—you’re fucking guilt tripping me.” He sighs in defeat, “Ugh fine, one picture.”

Chanyeol doesn’t even bother to refute and shamelessly grins again, then he puts his arm around Baekhyun. “I’m gonna send this to my mom. She’ll love it.”

“You close with your mom?” He asks, after Chanyeol takes what must be at least twenty photos from three different angles. Baekhyun doesn’t complain though, if he’s going to look this ridiculous he at least hopes Chanyeol was able to catch his good angle.

“Very. I’m close with my dad and sister too.” Chanyeol answers, eyes glued to his phone, scrolling through the photos they had just taken, looking very pleased with himself.

Baekhyun looks at him, so Chanyeol is one of those lucky kids that’s close with his entire family, no wonder he’s so warm. He must’ve grown up in a loving family. You don’t find that a lot these days, he thinks. “Aren’t you sad you’re not spending Christmas with them then?”

Chanyeol blinks at him and remains silent for a while before he shrugs. “Weirdly no. I guess spending Christmas with you is just as fun.” Baekhyun expects Chanyeol to smirk teasingly at him but instead he sees Chanyeol smiling at him, almost as if he means what he just said. Baekhyun couldn’t help but snort and gently kick Chanyeol’s leg.

Baekhyun sits on the couch and Chanyeol joins him, before abruptly getting up again. He scrambles to his bedroom to retrieve something and comes back seconds later, hiding something behind his back. “I just remembered that I, uh, got you this!” Chanyeol pulls out a small baby blue box from behind him and hands it to Baekhyun, “It’s nothing much but I thought you’d like it.”

Baekhyun’s eyes bulge, his mouth slightly agape. “But...I didn’t get you anything,” he admits, his brain isn’t exactly capable of forming coherent sentences right now. He examines the gift before opening it, revealing a cute little corgi keychain. Suddenly he feels overwhelmed just by seeing the small gift.

“It’s fine! I got it on a complete whim. I saw it at a random street a few days ago and it reminded me of you. So I bought it.” Chanyeol smiles, and sits back down next to Baekhyun. “Since you’re always complaining about how much you miss Mongryong.”

“Still…”

Chanyeol shushes him, placing his index finger on Baekhyun’s face. “Baek, seriously, just say thank you.”

“Thank you, Yeol.” Baekhyun can feel a smile creeping up, “I still think I should get you something though.” He blames this on his lack of experience when it comes to festivities, he should’ve known someone like Chanyeol must have prepared a present in some sort. If only he had figured this out sooner then he could’ve gotten Chanyeol a deadpool keychain or something.

“You don’t have to--”

“I know. But I want to.” Baekhyun says, cutting him off with a mischievous smile. “You know what? Follow me.” Baekhyun gets up and pulls Chanyeol’s arm to head towards his room.

“Why are we in my room?” Chanyeol says as Baekhyun sits him down on the bed.

“I’m giving you your Christmas present.” He says, sitting down in front of Chanyeol’s keyboard. Not entirely sure of what he can give Chanyeol at such a short notice, he decides to do something that he never really did for anyone before, well, at least not willingly.

Chanyeol looks at him, eyes slightly wide. “You’re gonna play? For me?” He asks.

Responding with only a nod, Baekhyun stretches his fingers and places them on top of the keyboard. “Just so you know. I don’t do this for a lot of people—or anyone else really, so be grateful.”

Baekhyun sings him Moon of Seoul. Which is the only song he knows by heart, he didn’t have time to prepare so might as well go with the song that he’s most confident with. He still fucks up in the middle though and he can hear Chanyeol’s soft chuckle. At the very last note, he turns towards Chanyeol, a bit unsure of how he should act. He never voluntarily performed in front of other people before.

“Wow,” Chanyeol says, with his side-to-side grin. “Your voice is really great. Like  _ really _ great.”

Baekhyun feels a bit uncomfortable at the compliment, probably because he’s not used to people giving comments about his voice, but he smiles back nonetheless. “Yeah well, I hoped you liked it. A crappy gift but at least it’s something right?”

“What are you talking about? I loved it! I think it’s gonna be my favorite Christmas present this year.” Chanyeol gets up and unexpectedly wraps his hands around Baekhyun and hugs him rather tightly. Almost making him fall back from his seat.

“Fucking liar.” He says into Chanyeol’s annoyingly firm chest. After a few seconds, Baekhyun decides to hug him back and pats his back a few times.

Chanyeol pulls away, and sits back down on his bed, placing both of his hands on the mattress to support his weight.

“I’m serious. You know I’ve been wanting to hear you play since we met,” He starts. “And actually, I’ve been working on this song for awhile. Just haven’t had any inspirations for the lyrics. I’ll show it to you when I’m done with it.”

So aside from playing what must be a million instruments, Chanyeol also produces music. Baekhyun wonders why is Chanyeol even majoring in biochem.

“But my voice isn’t as pretty as yours so don’t judge me,” Chanyeol suddenly adds with a smirk on his face.

“Alright, alright. Let’s do something else,” Baekhyun says as he gets up and walks out of the room. He goes back to the living room and picks up his phone from the coffee table. Damn it. Why didn’t he look up the chords and lyrics for Moon of Seoul earlier? He could’ve avoided making stupid embarrassing mistakes. He internally groans and sits on the couch.

Baekhyun unlocks his phone and sees several messages;

**Kim Jongdae:** _ Merry Christmas Byun! Hope you’re having fun being alone at school with Chanyeol ;) OH, Minseok hopes you’re doing okay. We’ll be back next year~ _

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ Hyung~ Merry Christmas! Hope you got me a better present than last year lol. _

**_Kim Jongin:_ ** _ Merry Christmas Baekhyun-hyung! _

**_Kim Junmyeon:_ ** _ Happy Holidays Baekhyun! Let’s work harder next year shall we? _

**_Do Kyungsoo:_ ** _ Merry Christmas Baekhyun. Mom and Dad sends their love. _

He smiles while he types and starts answering them one by one. What did he ever do to deserve these friends of his? If anything, he’s been a prick to most of them, but they just keep coming back to him. He rarely says it out loud, but he is grateful for the small circle of friends that he’s been blessed with. Not too many people can just accept each other for who they are, and he’s been so lucky to find those people without even trying.

Once he’s done replying, he checks if he’s missed any important messages. And just like every other year, he’s only met with another set of disappointment. No messages from his family. Save for his grandmother who lives in Bucheon—bless her. It’s amazing how he can still feel disappointed even though he has no expectations.

Even his brother, who he considers his closest family member, failed to call him on Christmas. He usually calls the next day with a string of apologies. His parents don’t usually call until new years. At this point Baekhyun has stopped caring. Well, at least he  _ wished  _ he has stopped caring.

“Earth to Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s voice breaks him out of his trance, “Did something happen? You look a little down...”

Baekhyun quickly locks his phone and throws it on the couch. Maybe if his phone is nowhere in sight, he’ll at least be able to get this off his mind for a little while. “Family stuff.”

“Oh...were you expecting a call?” Chanyeol says, sitting next to him with a mug filled with hot chocolate in his hand.

“No. I don’t know why I expect anything from them.”

Chanyeol looks down into his mug. “I’m sorry.” He says, clearly unsure on what he should say.

Baekhyun lets out a deep sigh and slides down the couch. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault that my family’s fucked up.” He feels kinda bad now that he’s made Chanyeol uncomfortable. This is why he’s always so reluctant to talk about his family with other people, they always get all weird.

“It’s no one’s fault.” Chanyeol gives him a small and reassuring smile.

Baekhyun nods, albeit a little unconvinced, if something was to be blamed for the state of his family, he’d probably blame it on soulmates, or at least the whole concept of people having soulmates. There was of course, a time where even Baekhyun felt loved by both his parents and his brother. But it was far in the distant past.

Not wanting to ruin the cheerful atmosphere of Christmas, Baekhyun asks Chanyeol about his family instead. Chanyeol shows him a picture his mother sent him from Paris, it was a photo of his parents and his pregnant sister. His sister Yoora, Baekhyun notes, has extremely striking resemblance to her brother--they have the same smile, the same ear shape and general face structure. Baekhyun could’ve been fooled into thinking they were twins if not for the fact he already knew Yoora was a few years older.

Later that day, Chanyeol receives a call from his mother and to Baekhyun’s surprise, she insists on talking to Baekhyun and wishing him a merry Christmas. She even thanks him for keeping their Chanyeollie company during the holidays and offers him to visit their family home if he wants, causing Baekhyun to stutter and trip over his own words, somewhat overwhelmed with all the love he’s suddenly receiving.

Before university, Baekhyun often spends Christmas with Kyungsoo’s family, but after what happened five years ago. Kyungsoo’s parents thought it was best for their family to travel during the holidays, and Baekhyun isn’t too fond of the idea of tagging along on family vacations, even if they did offer.

Eventually, Baekhyun does get around into teaching Chanyeol the piano, even though he didn’t need any tutoring, in Baekhyun’s opinion. Chanyeol makes them hot chocolate while they play monopoly for a few hours until Chanyeol, being the animated person that he is, thought it was a better idea to watch another Christmas movie (Baekhyun’s pretty sure it was because Chanyeol was losing).

When Baekhyun suggests watching  _ It’s a Wonderful Life, _ he didn’t expect to hear sniffles coming from the guy next to him. He turns towards Chanyeol and finds him trying to hide his obviously wet eyes with a pillow. Baekhyun reaches for the box of tissues on the coffee table and hands them to Chanyeol. The man is a giant teddy bear. He literally towers over most of the student body yet he cries easily, he cooks and he gets excited at the most random things. Chanyeol takes the box of tissues from his hand, quickly wipes his eyes and nose and apologizes to Baekhyun for the ugly crying, and yet, Baekhyun only finds himself smiling. At that moment, Baekhyun could not think of anything more endearing than the man sitting beside him.

He also could not remember the last time he felt so content during, what at least was for him, the coldest and loneliest time of the year.

Baekhyun finds himself getting more and more comfortable as the new year approaches. Usually, he would spend his new year's in front of his computer, counting down, looking at the clock when it hits twelve, and he then would move on with his life. But now, he’s in a kitchen with a six foot giant trying his hardest to not fuck up the icing on the chocolate cake.

Yes, he’s baking. Well technically, Chanyeol did the baking and Baekhyun’s only helping with the decorating. Chanyeol insists that they do something fun for New Year’s Eve and not just lounge around the apartment watching random movies, which were pretty much all day did for the last couple of days. That and a lot of talking.

“Hey Baek,” Chanyeol calls on a particularly chilly night. Due to the weather neither of them has really left Chanyeol’s bed. It’s much cozier to stay under a warm duvet. Chanyeol’s lounges lazily on the bed with his laptop placed on his chest, while Baekhyun grabbed a random book from the apartment shelf to read on the bed.

Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol to meet his eyes.

“What are you thinking about?” Chanyeol asks.

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno. You always look like you’re in deep thought.” Chanyeol’s gaze feels more scrutinizing than it was a few seconds before. He pauses for a bit before he adds on. “It’s almost like you want to seem carefree but you’re weighing the world on your shoulders.”

Baekhyun’s not too sure of what to make of that comment. Is he always in deep thought? He doesn’t feel like it, sure he spaces out from time to time but he didn’t think anyone would notice. “What makes you say that?” He asks instead.

“Like now. I know you said you were going to read but it’s been ten minutes since you even flipped a page.” Chanyeol says as he elaborates, and it was true that Baekhyun has not been reading like he said he would.

After a brief pause and a moment of silence, Chanyeol continues. “It’s not just now, even when we go on walks or even in the middle of a movie I sometimes feel like you’re not--how do I put this, like you’re not really here? Does that make sense?”

“No, not really.”

Chanyeol sighs, moving his laptop from his chest to the bed and shifts to face Baekhyun, using his right arm and elbow to support the weight of his head. “It’s like you have a lot on your mind. And I just wanted you to know that you don’t have to bear any burdens alone. You can talk to me if you want.” He smiles softly, looking at Baekhyun directly in the eyes.

Suddenly Baekhyun feels the beat of his heart racing and suddenly, Chanyeol seems a bit too close and his gaze a bit too overwhelming. So he opts to turn back to his abandoned book. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.” He says, with a small smile creeping on his face.

When Baekhyun actually tries to continue his reading, Chanyeol speaks up again. “I know you’re trying to read for real now but can I ask you a question?”

“Okay what is it?”

“What do you think of Jongin?” That surprised Baekhyun a bit more than what Chanyeol just asked him two minutes ago. Maybe the guy just has a hobby of asking random questions. Chanyeol does seem to have a big sense of curiosity.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Jongin? He’s a good kid.” He says. From the short time Baekhyun has known Jongin, the kid’s been pretty great actually, he’s fairly easy to talk to and is genuinely funny. If anything, Jongin has a pretty distinct laugh that makes him funnier than he probably is. “Not as much as a brat as Sehun that’s for sure.”

Chanyeol nods in response. Baekhyun expected him to laugh or at least chuckle at the dig he just made at Sehun--because Chanyeol usually laughs at literally everything Baekhyun says (even things that aren’t funny), but now he just seems like he’s now the one suddenly in deep thought, “You’re right. So…you like him right?” He adds.

“Sure.” What kind of question is that anyway. “Why are you asking?”

Chanyeol sits up and leans into the headboard of the bed, placing his laptop on his lap. “It’s nice that you get along with my friends.” Is all Chanyeol has to say before he puts on his headphones.

Not really being able to focus back on his book, Baekhyun pulls down Chanyeol’s headphones. The taller turns to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

“My turn to ask a question.” Baekhyun starts. “You never told me why you liked Kyungsoo so much.”

“I guess I first liked him when I saw him studying.” Chanyeol says. He smiles when he sees the confused frown on Baekhyun’s face. “People assumed that he’s a nerd, but I asked one time why he always studies so much and the answer he gave me was it’s because he wants to become a doctor as fast as he can, so he can help save people as fast as he can. You can’t help but admire that.” He says with a fond smile.

♡♡

Baekhyun goes back to his apartment a few days after new year. Chanyeol offered to take him back to the apartment, and Baekhyun knew the man would take no for an answer so he leaves while Chanyeol was in the shower. He now finds himself struggling to unlock his apartment while holding two travel bags, he kicks the door open with one foot and walks in but then he stops when notices the luggage in the living room. “Kyungsoo you’re back early.” Baekhyun says when he spots Kyungsoo sitting on their sofa, with a soda in hand.

From the looks of it, Kyungsoo only arrived a few moments before he did. “My dad offered to drive me so I didn’t have to take the bus.” Kyungsoo says, “and don’t kick the door, Baekhyun.” He reminds sternly, eyebrows forming a deep frown.

“I don’t know if you can see but I only have two hands and both of them are full.” Baekhyun argues, lifting both of his arms to make his point.

Kyungsoo casts an eye over him, “You can always put your bags down first before unlocking the door.” He states, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

In truth, Baekhyun didn’t think of that and he feels like a moron, so he says. “I’m not putting my bags on the floor, they’ll get all dirty and gross.” He puts his bags down on the living room floor without much thought. “Anyway how was your holiday?”

“Got back from Australia with my parents. Had Christmas dinner with my grandparents. Visited the cemetery. Same as always.” Kyungsoo answers, eyes slowly shifting towards Baekhyun’s bags that were now on the floor.

Baekhyun opens the door of the fridge to grab a can of soda. “Well, glad to have you back, Soo.” He says, not looking at him but quirks his head slightly. Before running and throwing himself at the couch, causing it to slightly shift from the force of his weight.

Surprisingly, Kyungsoo doesn’t scowl at him. “Where were you anyway?” He asks instead, eyes still fixated on Baekhyun’s bags, now slightly squinting. Baekhyun’s pretty sure Kyungsoo already knows he’s bullshitting about not wanting his bags on the hallway floor.

“Uh, right. That,” He finds himself struggling to explain. He actually hoped that he didn’t have to mention what happened during his break to anyone. “This--I actually stayed over at Chanyeol’s apartment for the past few days.” He quickly says in one breath.

Kyungsoo finally turns to look at him. “I see. I’m guessing you two are really close now?”

Baekhyun moves both of his legs and places them on top of Kyungsoo’s thighs. “He couldn’t stand seeing me eat instant ramen for the entire break. That’s why he invited me to stay at his place.” He explains.

He finally earns a scowl from Kyungsoo. “That’s nice of him.” He offhandedly comments after harshly pushing both of Baekhyun’s legs away from his thighs, he then gets up to throw away his soda can into the trash. Without saying much else, Kyungsoo drags his luggage and retreats into his bedroom.

♡♡

Not long after Kyungsoo’s return, other students were coming back from their winter break as well. Jongdae and Minseok returned from their trip with a very special Christmas present for Baekhyun; a can of air, from the mountains in Japan. Baekhyun is one hundred percent sure that it was Jongdae’s idea. Minseok just gives him an apologetic look and hugs him.

In return, Baekhyun tricks Jongdae into going somewhere he’ll normally never set foot in--at least not without the (empty) promise of Baekhyun going out to the bar with him later that week.

“Tell me why are we at the gym again?” Jongdae asks, trying to catch his breath while attempting to keep up with the pace of his treadmill.

Baekhyun pushes the speed button on his own treadmill to slow it down, “New year’s resolutions?” Darn, he was out of shape.

“I don’t get why you had to drag me into this. Minseok could have trained you by yourself.” Jongdae says, clearly regretting ever saying yes to Baekhyun’s offer. It’s true that Minseok was the better choice when it comes to fitness but Baekhyun has seen the contrast of Minseok’s personality when he’s inside the gym and outside. He’s like a completely different person when he’s helping someone train to get in shape, and Baekhyun prefers to still be able to walk the next day.

“No. I need to have someone to start from scratch with me.” Baekhyun says, “Besides, there’s no harm in getting in shape.” That and he wanted to get back and Jongdae for giving him a can of fucking air for a souvenir.

“Since when do you care about your shape?” Jongdae pants, quirking an eyebrow.

“Since always.” He flat out lies. It wasn’t until winter break that Baekhyun started feeling insecure about his physique. To be more precise, he never thought about going to the gym until he caught a glimpse of Chanyeol changing his shirt.

Jongdae squints. “Bullshit. It has something to do someone doesn’t it?” He hates that despite never listening to what Baekhyun has to say, he more often than not knows whenever he’s lying.

Being the stubborn prick that he is, Baekhyun remains persistent. “Uh no? Like I said I wanna live a healthier lifestyle.” Chanyeol looked way too good with his shirt off. It should be illegal to have that kind of physique, when he already has that height. And that voice. And that face. For fuck’s sakes how is he still able to maintain his body when he eats pizza and drinks alcohol almost every week, he’s existence is the sole proof Baekhyun needs to know that God isn’t fair.

“Uh-huh,” Jongdae hums, still unconvinced. “I bet it has something to do with the guy who you spent all of winter break with.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

Baekhyun pretends he didn’t hear that. “Maybe I want to increase my life expectancy.”

“Chanyeol is pretty fit. I heard from Minseok he has really nice abs--”

“Can you stop? I told you I’m trying to hook him up with Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun finally snaps, turning towards Jongdae despite still running on his treadmill. “And why are you and Minseok talking about Chanyeol’s abs?” Is that what committed couples do? Talk about other people’s abdominal muscles? Nah, he’s pretty sure that’s exclusive to Jongdae and Minseok. Jesus, he has weird friends.

Jongdae presses the stop button on his treadmill and gasps for air, “How are you so sure he likes Kyungsoo?” He pants, still trying to catch his breath, obviously ignoring Baekhyun’s question.

Baekhyun also presses the stop on his treadmill, he places both of his hands on his knees and tries to catch his breath. “He told me literally two days after we met! I already told you all of this.” Baekhyun says exasperatedly, quirking his head towards Jongdae. He just loves to forget important details whenever it’s convenient for him.

“Then why is he hanging out with you all the time? And not Kyungsoo?” Jongdae crosses his arms, leaning on his treadmill.

It’s true that they hang out a lot, but it’s completely different. At least, Baekhyun thinks it’s different. Despite Chanyeol being so friendly and open as a person, he’s hard to read. “He asked Kyungsoo out.” He says, not really answering Jongdae’s question.

“Once.” Jongdae points out, the treadmill behinds him starts to move due to his weight, startling him.

Baekhyun inhales. “ _ That _ you remember?” he then deadpans as he exhales, putting his hands on his hips.

Jongdae shrugs, “Seems to me he likes spending time with you more than Kyungsoo.” He says, taking a sip from his water bottle and wipes his face with a small towel.

“That’s ridiculous.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “We usually go out with Jongin anyways so it’s not like they’re dates.” After the winter break, Jongin started coming out with Chanyeol more often. Not that Baekhyun minds, but it’s rarely just him and Chanyeol anymore, hence Jongdae is wrong in every way possible. And it’s not like Chanyeol can just spend time with Kyungsoo as much as he wants to with the latter always shutting himself in his room and being generally unapproachable.

He wipes his face with a towel and wonders, when was the last time Chanyeol and Kyungsoo even talked? Usually, Chanyeol would tell him if he managed to have somewhat of an insignificant interaction with Kyungsoo, but lately, there’s been none. The last time he’s heard of was Chanyeol texting him that Kyungsoo waved back at him when they bumped into each other in the dining hall.

♡♡

Classes starts about a week after Baekhyun’s one-time trip to the gym. Upon trying various equipment that’s available, he decides that maybe fitness isn’t the right kind of exercise for him. That, and Jongdae refuses to go back to the gym with him after their first session. Baekhyun tries to coax him into going back, but nothing seems to work, not even when Baekhyun says he’ll willingly go to PH with him on the weekends. At this point Jongdae probably knows it’s a lie. So he stops and never looked back, although, he promises himself he’ll look for a new exercise regime, but he hasn’t really gotten around to it. He will soon though. Hopefully.

Junmyeon and Baekhyun walk out of the art building after an awfully boring art history class. He was in the middle of trying to convince Junmyeon to try out the new frozen yoghurt stand that just had its grand opening when he hears someone calling his name.

“Baekhyun-hyung!” It was Jongin, waving at him rather enthusiastically.

“Hi, Jongin. What’s up?” Baekhyun offers a small smile and walks down to him.

Jongin grins, “I got you this.” He lifts up the paper bag hand hanging on his left hand and the paper cup he’s holding.

Baekhyun stares at the paper bag, then the cup, then at the person holding said items, “Coffee? And bagels?”

“Yeah, I figured you’d want them.” Jongin shrugs. He hands the food over to Baekhyun with a warm smile. Returning Jongin’s smile, Baekhyun takes the coffee and bagels from him.

Junmyeon lets out a fake cough, slightly irritated that he was somewhat forgotten. “Jongin, meet my friend Junmyeon.” Baekhyun quickly introduces while he takes a sip. He notices the coffee was mixed with the perfect amount of milk and sugar. “It’s good. How did you know I liked my coffee sweet?”

Jongin nods and smiles at Junmyeon who’s standing behind Baekhyun on the stairs. “From Chanyeol-hyung,” he answers. “He mentions you everytime he sees someone taking their coffee too sweet.”

Huh. So Chanyeol remembered his coffee preference just from that one time when they met for the first time. Baekhyun finds himself already smiling at the thought, “Remind me to treat you sometime,” Baekhyun says to Jongin, “after all, I am the hyung here.”

“That sounds great actually, what about, uh, Saturday?” Jongin asks, with a shy smile on his face.

Baekhyun quirks an eyebrow. Isn’t Saturday like two days away? “Okay, where?”

“I was thinking the usual cafe? We don’t have to eat.” Jongin offers. “But it’s completely up to you!” He then adds quickly.

Why the hell not? It’s not like he has anything special planned for Saturday. “Sure, I guess. I’ll see you then?”

With not much else to say, Jongin bids the farewell. Just a few seconds later, Junmyeon breaks the silence. “That’s the third time this week,” he points out, matching Baekhyun’s pacing as he walks.

He knows. The kid has been consistently bringing him random snacks throughout random parts of the day this past week. Weirdly enough, all of the food and drinks he brings are always to Baekhyun’s tastes. What’s even weirder is that they seem to bump into each other during the most convenient moments too, it’s almost like Jongin knows his schedule or something.

“At least you bothered to introduce me to him this time around,” Junmyeon adds. It is true. Baekhyun was too surprised that he forgot to address his friend the first two times Jongin brought him snacks. “Man, I wish I could score a date with this girl in my yoga class that easily.” He continues.

“First of all, you sound like a creep.” Baekhyun looks at him weirdly, “Second of all, it’s not a date.” He tries to argue.

Junmyeon shrugs and looks at him in the eye. “It’s a date. He likes you.” He doesn’t wait for Baekhyun’s response and starts walking away.

Baekhyun gapes and hurriedly follows him, almost running into another student. “What makes you think that?” He says, when he catches up to his friend.

“He’s bringing you coffee and bagels for no reason? Hello?” Junmyeon says rolling his eyes whilst he takes out a pair of gloves from his bag, he then puts them on his hand.

It would be pretty dumb for Baekhyun to not at least be suspicious on what Jongin’s been doing for the past week. “Look, we hang out all the time. Me, him and Chanyeol. It’s not a date.”

“I’m just saying. Let him down gently if you don’t feel the same way.” Junmyeon pauses for a moment. “Do you like him?”

Baekhyun has never thought of Jongin that way, heck he hasn’t been interested in anyone in a long time. The last time he went on a date was probably freshman year. “No? And you’re being ridiculous. I’m sure he just wants to spend time with his awesome senior.”

What Junmyeon said really got Baekhyun thinking. Does Jongin like him that way? If he did he would’ve at least seen the signs during the times they’ve hung out, but then again, he never paid special attention to Jongin. And whenever they’re together, Chanyeol is always there. Other than that one time where Jongin walked him home, Saturday would be the first time the two of them would go out alone.

Saturday comes by and Junmyeon is again proven to be absolutely right, and Baekhyun kinda hates him for it. Jongin insisted on picking up Baekhyun in his apartment and he was dressed slightly better than usual. It makes Baekhyun feel kinda bad because he himself is dressed in a denim jacket over a t-shirt, not exactly what people usually call a date attire.

Jongin, Baekhyun notices, is a lot quieter than usual. So he tries to ease the awkward atmosphere by making small talk, but the poor kid just looks too nervous to hold a decent conversation. Luckily for Jongin, their food arrives not too long after their order.

Once the food arrives, Jongin looks a bit more relaxed. He starts talking about the food, he also mentions his sister who also has a cafe called Kamong, and then he finally starts talking about his dogs. Baekhyun also feels slightly relieved now that the atmosphere isn’t as awkward as it was a few minutes ago.

Halfway through dessert, Baekhyun can’t find it in him to hold the question he’s been dying to ask since Jongin picked him up at the apartment. It’s probably going to bring back the awkward tension, but fuck it. “I gotta ask. This, right now,” He gestures between himself and Jongin, “Is this a date?”

This stuns Jongin, who’s in the middle of taking a scoop of his ice cream for a few seconds before he flashes him a shy smile. “I was hoping it would count as a date?” He puts down his spoon into the bowl.

Baekhyun could almost hear Junmyeon yelling ‘I told you so’ from the distance. What was he even thinking, Junmyeon is always right. Even when he’s wrong, he’s still right. “Look, Jongin, you’re really nice and I appreciate the thought but…”

“You’re not interested?” Jongin finishes his sentence with a defeated sigh, although the smile still hasn’t left his handsome face.

“Sorry.” Baekhyun apologetically smiles at him. “But we can still be buddies, if that’s alright with you?” He really hopes that this doesn’t completely ruin their friendship. He means it when he says he likes Jongin and that he’s a good kid. It’s just Baekhyun doesn’t see him that way at all. He tried too though, he spent the last two days imagining how things would be like if the two of them started dating, but he just doesn’t see it happening right now. Or ever.

Jongin sighs, “Well beats not knowing you at all. You’re really cool.”

Baekhyun’s extremely pleased to hear another person complimenting him, using the same adjective no less. “People keep saying I’m cool these days, I gotta say it’s nice.” He says, leaning back into his chair with a smirk, causing Jongin to laugh at him.

After a few seconds of silence, Baekhyun notices Jongin is fiddling with his fingers. “Can I ask you something?” He finally says. He rests both of his forearms on the table to support his weight and leans forward.

“Shoot.”

Jongin glances to the side and then back directly into Baekhyun’s eyes. “Is it because of Chanyeol-hyung?”

“Sorry?” Baekhyun says, getting caught off guard. He could have never seen that question coming.

“Is it because you like him?” Jongin presses, eyebrows knitted together.

“That’s— no!” Baekhyun groans, “Why does everyone think I like him?”

Jongin begins to lean back into his seat, putting his hands in his pockets. “You guys got really close real fast.”

“He knows everything about you. He knows how you prefer to take your coffee; he knows your favorite movie; and he even knows where you are every second of the day.” Jongin adds on. “You can’t blame me from thinking that there’s something going on between you guys.”

It’s true. He and Chanyeol did become close faster than most people would, but that doesn’t have to mean that there’s something going on. He swears, everytime Baekhyun spends time with literally  _ any  _ guy, his friends would jump on him and ask if he’s going to date the guy after only like a month of knowing each other. This even happened the first time Jongdae knew Baekhyun had become close with Junmyeon.

But Chanyeol is a special case. Almost everything Jongin listed just now is true. It’s bizarre even for Baekhyun how they know each other’s preference and when they don’t, their guesses are almost always right. One time during another one of their movie nights, Baekhyun guessed that Chanyeol can’t handle spicy food so he ordered the sweet-sour chicken instead of the spicy one, and he was proven right that night when Chanyeol admits that he thinks the hot sauce from McDonald’s is spicy.

And two days after they met, Chanyeol guessed that he wanted to have pizza. Okay that was probably a pure coincidence but what are the chances out of all the food in the world, Chanyeol just so happens to offer him pizza. On top of it all, they almost constantly text back and forth, that’s probably how Chanyeol knows his schedule, just like Baekhyun has also unconsciously memorized Chanyeol’s.

“We just clicked. There’s really nothing more to it.” That’s probably the best way Baekhyun can explain his relationship with Chanyeol. “Besides, you know he likes Kyungsoo.” He adds. People seem to conveniently forget that Chanyeol is extremely open about liking Kyungsoo. There’s no way Jongin wouldn’t know this.

Jongin stares at him silently, seemingly unconvinced and with not knowing what else to say, Baekhyun sighs, fiddling with his spoon. “I’m just not interested in dating. Really.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Jongin says after another few seconds of awkward silence, and begins to take another scoop of his now slightly melted ice cream. “I guess I gotta apologize to Chanyeol then.” He adds, after taking a bite.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Apologize for what?”

Now it’s Jongin’s turn to let out a sigh. “I kinda accused him of getting together with you behind my back.” He admits, looking down at his ice cream and playing with it using his spoon.

“You what?” Baekhyun can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Yeah last week. I got pretty mad at him after I saw him skyping you.”

Baekhyun frowns. He and Chanyeol did have a skype call the previous week, a call that lasted almost the entire night. He remembers Chanyeol carrying his laptop all over the apartment before eventually settling down in his bed, Jongin must’ve seen Chanyeol while he was in the living room.

“You got mad because he skyped me…?” Baekhyun asks.

“I was in a bad mood,” Jongin quickly says. “And I was always suspicious, he always says he likes this Kyungsoo guy, but I never see him spending time with Kyungsoo, instead I see him with you doing all of this intimate stuff.” He elaborates, crossing his arms again, and then he leans back to his seat a little.

“He walks you home, he skypes you, he texts you all the time and not to mention you guys spent winter break together.” Jongin continues.

“You call that intimate?” Baekhyun gawks at Jongin in disbelief, he considered none of the things that Jongin mentioned to be intimate, well at least not until now. Admittedly, he has done stuff with Chanyeol that can be considered to be intimate, but right now he’s trying his hardest to push the memories of those moments to the deepest parts of his brain.

“But I guess I can’t really blame you for thinking that.” Baekhyun sighs, when Jongin remains silent.

“I was more upset because I thought he went behind my back despite knowing how I feel about you.” Jongin finally says after another string of silence.

Chanyeol knows? “You told Chanyeol you liked me?”

“Yup. I had a crush on you even before we met at the library, and when Sehun mentioned you were friends with Chanyeol, I asked him to set me up with you.” Jongin explains, still diverting his eyes, looking everywhere except at the guy sitting across from him. “I would’ve asked Sehun but he’s kind of useless when it comes to stuff like this.”

That’s true if anything Sehun would’ve laughed and probably embarrass Jongin on purpose in front of Baekhyun. But even when he’s mean he’s doing it out of love.

“And Chanyeol agreed to help you?” Baekhyun asks. So Chanyeol does know, that was probably why he tried to auction Jongin off when they first ate breakfast together. He was trying to show off his friend.

“Yeah, that’s why he asks you to go hang out with him every night. I wasn’t exactly brave enough to ask you out so I asked him to ask you.”

Baekhyun’s heart stops and he looks directly at Jongin, eyebrows knitted together. “Wait—let me get this straight, all those times we were hanging out, it was a set up by Chanyeol so you could spend time with me?”

“Yep, and then sometimes I’ll show up unannounced so it’s not too obvious that I was into you.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun flatly says, “So all that was, in some way, a ploy?” This time he doesn’t feel his heart stop, instead he feels it dropping to his stomach, in what must be the worst possible way.

Jongin nods.

“I see.” He feels like he’s been punched in the gut.

After that, Baekhyun couldn’t find it in him to smile nor make small talk with Jongin. The younger must’ve sensed the drop in Baekhyun’s mood because he too, doesn’t say much else. Once they’re both done with their desserts, Jongin asks for the bill and doesn’t argue when Baekhyun insists that they split the bill.

Hours after his (not) date with Jongin, Baekhyun’s mood is still damped. Hell, if anything, he’s mood is goddamned soaked at this point. The thought of Chanyeol casually asking him to hang out because of a ploy pisses him off. He already knows that he’s putting way too much thought into this, but he feels in some way...betrayed? Maybe because during all those times they went out, Baekhyun was genuinely excited to see Chanyeol. Heck, he was the main reason he agreed to go out in the first place.

He also knows that he shouldn’t be this upset. Chanyeol was only being a good friend to Jongin by helping him out. It’s just now he can’t help but wonder, if Jongin didn’t ask Chanyeol to ‘invite him out’ would he still be so willing to spend time with Baekhyun as much as he did?

All of this is making Baekhyun feel like the rug’s been pulled from under him.

“Baekhyun, I’ve been waiting for you,” Kyungsoo greets the moment Baekhyun walks into their apartment.

“That’s something you don’t hear everyday.” Baekhyun says to himself, taking of his shoes.

Kyungsoo ignores him and gestures Baekhyun to sit next to him on their couch. “I need your opinion.” He says. Baekhyun studies the expression his roommate’s face and he looks rather...solemn, even by Kyungsoo standards.

He plops down on the couch, next to Kyungsoo. “Okay, sure. What is it?”

“Should I ask Chanyeol out?” Kyungsoo says, eyes directly meeting Baekhyun’s.

He feels his heart dropping for the second time that day. “What?”

“Should I ask Chanyeol—“

“I heard you the first time.” Baekhyun cuts him off, “It’s—I’m surprised. I didn’t think you liked him that way.” He always knew that Kyungsoo thought of Chanyeol as a friend, even though he’s never said it out loud but he just never expected for Kyungsoo to think of him romantically.

“I don’t. But over time, maybe?” Kyungsoo says. “It’s time for me to move on.” Kyungsoo adds.

“Oh.” Was all Baekhyun could get out of himself. Kyungsoo wants to move on. After years of being frozen in time, Kyungsoo finally decides to move on. With Chanyeol.

“Don’t you agree?” Kyungsoo’s question snaps Baekhyun out of his trance. He turns towards Kyungsoo, who is currently looking at him expectantly.

It may not look like it, but Kyungsoo truly values Baekhyun’s opinion, and Baekhyun knows that. Not once has Kyungsoo made a big decision without consulting his best friend. Kyungsoo trusts that Baekhyun would always have his best interest at heart, and he does.

“Only if you’re ready…” He trails off. It was all Baekhyun could manage. This is one of the biggest decisions Kyungsoo has made in years and Baekhyun is a little overwhelmed. All of this is way too much to be taken in one afternoon.

Kyungsoo shrugs, “I don’t think I’ll ever be fully ready. But, it’s been five years. I think I need to push myself a little.” Kyungsoo flashes him a small smile, something that even Baekhyun rarely sees in the past five years. It wasn’t always this way though, Kyungsoo used to be more at ease, and overall happier than he is now.

Unsure how to respond, Baekhyun takes a deep breath and nods. If Kyungsoo thinks he’s finally ready then there’s no way in hell Baekhyun would ever discourage him from moving on with his life. What’s bothering him is that although he’s been waiting for this moment for the past five years, he now finds himself unable to celebrate it. He can’t even force out a smile or laugh.

He’s imagined this moment so many times. In his head, he would be hugging Kyungsoo and congratulating him on finally finding someone that he can move on with and buying him a cake and probably go on a night out with Kyungsoo to drink in celebration, just the two of them. Now, all he can do is nod lifelessly. God, he’s such a shitty friend.

“Why Chanyeol in particular?” Baekhyun couldn’t help but ask, after a few seconds of silence. “A lot of people have asked you out before.” Kyungsoo is after all very handsome, with his heart shaped lips, his deep voice, his smarts and of course, his quiet and mysterious demeanor. There have been both girls and boys who went after Kyungsoo throughout their university years, and he didn’t even glance at any of them.

“He always seems--I don’t exactly know how to put it, sincere?” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun can’t really argue with that, out of all of the people he knows, Chanyeol does seem like he’s the most sincere. He’s kind and Baekhyun knows for a fact that he genuinely likes Kyungsoo. “And he treats you really well.” Kyungsoo abruptly adds.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “Why does the way he treats me matter?” He asks.

Kyungsoo looks at him, frowning. “Of course it does. You’re family to me.”

Hearing this makes Baekhyun want to cry. Or scream. Or maybe both. He and Kyungsoo were always close, much closer than he and his brother ever was. And admittedly, Baekhyun loves Kyungsoo more than all of his family members combined. Seeing Kyungsoo happy again was something he has always wanted, and still wants to this day. And it seems that happiness Kyungsoo’s lost is going to come back to him in the form of Park Chanyeol.

But why does seeing Kyungsoo smile at the thought of Chanyeol, makes his insides turn in the worst possible way?

Kyungsoo is still looking at him expectantly, patiently waiting for his answer.

All he wants to do in that moment is to say no.

No. Kyungsoo should not ask Chanyeol out. Because Baekhyun doesn’t want them getting together. At least not anymore.

All he could manage was a nod, and Kyungsoo nods back in response.

Almost immediately, Baekhyun makes up an excuse about how he left his phone in the cafe and bolts. While in reality, he needs air. He feels suffocated and he needs to feel the icy winter breeze in lungs. Once outside, he inhales he feels a million cold needles prickling, not his lungs, but his heart instead.

He walks as fast and as far away as he can from the apartment, following wherever his trembling feet was taking him. He needs to get away, he needs to get away from Kyungsoo, from Chanyeol and, from this gut wrenching feeling he gets whenever the thought of the two of them surfaces in his mind.

Out of all the shit things he’s done in life, this is probably the worst one yet. Kyungsoo’s the only one in his life that makes Baekhyun feels like he has family, a brother and a home to go to, and yet, he can’t even have his best interest at hand.

Not too long ago, this was what Baekhyun had hoped for. That’s why he agreed to help Chanyeol in the first place. And the more he got to know Chanyeol, the more he knows just how perfect the guy is and how capable he is on making Kyungsoo happy. Just like how he makes Baekhyun happy when they’re together.

No. Regardless of what’s changed, he’s not going to let his own selfish feelings hinder Kyungsoo’s happiness.

“Baekhyunnie!”

Baekhyun freezes when he hears his voice. A voice that he’d recognize even in his sleep. When he hears the footsteps getting closer Baekhyun starts walking again, at a slightly faster pace. He must’ve unconsciously walked all the way across campus.

_ Why now? _ He thinks. The universe must be conspiring against him for this to be happening all at once. Out of all the people he could’ve bumped into, he had to bump into the one he wants to avoid the most.

Unfortunately, Chanyeol catches up to him not more than twenty seconds later. Curse him and his ridiculously long legs. “Baek wait up! Where are you going?”

“Away from here.” Baekhyun grumbles, he keeps his eyes set on the ground beneath him, not daring to even sneak a glance at Chanyeol’s face. He’s not sure where he’s going, but if he’s sure about anything, it’s that he needs to get away from Chanyeol.

He does however feel Chanyeol studying his face from the side, “You’re upset.” It was a statement, not a question.

Baekhyun keeps walking, unsure on how to deal with the Chanyeol. At this rate, Chanyeol would follow him all the way back to his apartment. There’s no way Chanyeol would ever leave him alone after learning just how upset he is.

Suddenly, Chanyeol steps in front of him, halting Baekhyun in his place. “Baek what’s wrong?” He asks again, concern audible in his voice.

“Go away, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun stubbornly says, still not meeting Chanyeol’s eyes, gaze still fixated on the ground.

Chanyeol was quiet for a moment, “Did I do something?” He finally asks. Chanyeol must’ve figured out that Baekhyun’s upset at him in some way. It is after all, kind of obvious with the way he’s acting.

“I said go away.”

Chanyeol grabs Baekhyun’s shoulder and lowers his head to match Baekhyun’s height. “Baek seriously, tell me if I did something wrong.”

_ You did nothing wrong. _

“Baek, at least, tell me what’s upsetting you so much?” His grip is still firm on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Leave me alone.”

“I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” Chanyeol tries to reason with him.

Baekhyun makes the mistake of glancing at Chanyeol’s face. He feels his heart breaking in two. Chanyeol doesn’t even look mad despite Baekhyun acting like an asshole to him. Instead, he just looks concerned. On top of it all, looking at his face, opened the floodgates of all of the emotions that Baekhyun’s been holding. It reminds him of what Jongin had told him, it reminds of what Kyungsoo just asked of him, and worst of all, it reminds him why he’s feeling like complete shit right now.

“What part of ‘leave me alone’ do you not fucking get?” He snaps. It comes out harsher than he intended.

“Baek--”

“Stop calling me that and fuck off!” That crossed the line. Baekhyun knew he had just crossed the line. He keeps his eyes fixated on the ground, not wanting to even catch a glimpse of Chanyeol again.

It is silent for a brief moment. So silent that all Baekhyun could hear is the sound of Chanyeol’s breathing, and his own erratic heartbeat.

“You’re being really unfair right now, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol quietly says. “Do you really want me to leave you alone?” He asks, after a few seconds of silence.

Baekhyun knows he’s being unfair, and he knows that he’s being selfish. He also knows that the last thing he wants right now is for Chanyeol to leave him alone. He changed his mind the moment he heard how deflated and hurt Chanyeol sounds. He changes his mind all too quickly. But right now, Baekhyun is sure that what he wants is for Chanyeol to stay by his side. He wants to see Chanyeol’s warm, reassuring smile and he wants Chanyeol to tell him that he’s not a bad person.

“Baekhyun, do you really want me to leave?” Chanyeol asks again.

_ No _ . He doesn’t. Consistently, he avoids Chanyeol’s gaze. Baekhyun really can’t bear looking at Chanyeol with slumped shoulders and hurt in his eyes. He hates seeing Chanyeol looking so dejected. Even more than that, he hates that he’s the cause of it. He decides that it’s probably best just to say yes. He’s already told him to fuck off. He might as well make him leave before he says something that might hurt him even more.

Baekhyun opens his mouth to answer.

But nothing comes out.

Weird. Baekhyun tries again, he opens his mouth, the word ‘yes’ is at the tip of his tongue, but nothing comes out.

“You okay?” Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun tries to say yes again. But he can’t do it. He can’t lie.

He can’t lie to Park Chanyeol.

No. No no no no no. This cannot be happening. Baekhyun can feel his hands trembling and feels his legs losing strength. Most of all, his chest feels the heaviest it's ever been.  _ What the fuck  _ does this mean?

“Baekhyun?” He can hear Chanyeol calling his name but everything feels like a blur.

Who is he kidding? He knows exactly what this means.

Chanyeol is still very much staring at him, worry written all over his face. Not knowing what to do, he turns away from Chanyeol. Not wanting to look at him any longer. He can still hear Chanyeol breathing from behind him for a few seconds before he hears his footsteps, gradually getting further and further.

Turning his head, he makes sure that Chanyeol is out of sight before his legs gives. He sits down at the sidewalk and takes a deep breath. He needs to think. He looks at both of his hands, his slender fingers still trembling. Sighing, he buries his face in his hands. It’s just he doesn’t know  _ what  _ to think.

What is Baekhyun to think when he, for the first time in his life, could not lie?

What is Baekhyun to think when he can no longer deny that he doesn’t want Chanyeol and Kyungsoo together?

What is Baekhyun to think when he realizes that he got extremely upset just at the idea of Chanyeol not wanting to spend time with him?

What is Baekhyun to think when his soulmate appears right before his eyes? In the form of goofy smiles, warm hands and unwashed grey hoodies?

What is Baekhyun to think when his soulmate is none other than Park Chanyeol?


	2. Chapter 2

Shit like this would only ever happen to Baekhyun. He meets a guy, becomes friends with him, tries to help set him up with his childhood friend—who considers him a brother, mind you—and said guy turns out to be his fucking soulmate. 

For the last two hours, Baekhyun had been walking around his university, void of any real purpose. Continue to follow wherever his feet takes him, but this time around, he makes the conscious effort to stay away from the science building and Chanyeol’s apartment complex.

After another hour, he makes his way home. He’s made up his mind and he’s convinced himself that he’s doing the right thing.

With trembling hands, Baekhyun curls his hand into a fist, slowly lifts it. He pauses. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before he finally knocks the door in front of him.

“I think you should ask Chanyeol out,” is the first thing he says when Kyungsoo opens the door to his bedroom.

“What--” Kyungsoo looks slightly bewildered. A look you don’t often see on his face.

Baekhyun sighs. “Earlier, you asked me whether or not you should ask Chanyeol out. I think you should.” He should. They should be together, and be happy.

“Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”

“I didn’t really give you a clear answer then.” Baekhyun says, “I think he’s good for you, and he really does like you, Soo.” And Baekhyun’s telling him the truth. He genuinely thinks Chanyeol is the positive force that Kyungsoo’s been missing in his life for the past five years.

“How do you know?” Kyungsoo crosses his arms, he still looks confused.

“He told me.”

“When?”

“Two days after we met.” Baekhyun admits, “He likes you. And I really think things could work out.” He genuinely does. Baekhyun finds it hard to believe for anyone not to be happy when they’re with Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo stares at him. “Has he…” He starts, almost carefully. “Met his soulmate?”

“Not sure. But I don’t think that’ll matter.” Baekhyun lies. He is however, being one hundred percent truthful when he says he thinks it wouldn’t matter. Chanyeol has indeed met his soulmate, but it wouldn’t matter as long as he doesn’t realize it. And Baekhyun intends on keeping it that way.

Kyungsoo remains silent for a few seconds, the apartment became so quiet that Baekhyun could only hear the faint footsteps of his upstairs neighbor, “Okay. If you think I should ask him out then I will.”

Baekhyun nods and walks to his own room in silence. He could feel Kyungsoo’s eyes on him before he finally shuts the door and feels his knees losing its strength for what must be the tenth time that day. He rests his back on the door and slides down, burying his face in his palms.

What he just did, he did on impulse.  

Baekhyun really wants Kyungsoo to be happy. Because he knows it’s what he deserves. Deep down, Baekhyun also wants Chanyeol to be happy, even if he has to take himself out of that equation.

 

♡♡

What happens now? For a long time, Baekhyun has always dismissed the idea of soulmates all together. More than anything he has pushed it to the back of his head, not wanting to deal with it. He just always assumed that he probably won't meet his soulmate until much later in life. At some point in his life, Baekhyun even felt content with the idea of him never meeting with soulmate. But everything is different now.

Now, all he feels is the emptiness glaring in his chest. Like a big empty void that’s eating away at his very existence.

It was easier to dismiss the thought of a soulmate when it was nothing more than an idea. It’s so much harder to deny when what used to be an idea is now a whole human being. A friend and a connection that even Baekhyun’s stubborn head can’t deny.

Still looking outside his window, he doesn’t move when hears soft but firm knocks on his door. “Baekhyun, did something happen?” Kyungsoo asks, his head peeking inside.

“No. Why are you asking?” Baekhyun answers without looking at Kyungsoo.

“Chanyeol just texted me asking if you got back okay.”

Baekhyun’s heart skips a beat when he hears Chanyeol’s name. “Oh. Dunno maybe he thought I was sick?”

“So you’re fine?” Kyungsoo leans on his door frame.

He turns his head towards Kyungsoo. “Absolutely.” He says, forcing out a small smile. Baekhyun knows Kyungsoo’s probably unconvinced, it’s not exactly easy to fool him, especially when he’s obviously been acting weird the whole day.

“Did you find your phone?” Kyungsoo asks.

Baekhyun lifts up his phone and Kyungsoo eventually closes his door without another word.

Baekhyun actively avoids Chanyeol for the next few weeks. And avoiding Chanyeol means avoiding all of his close friends. It has gotten so bad, that even Kyungsoo would randomly invite him out on useless mundane activities like grocery shopping, to which of course Baekhyun declines. He’s been declining every single invite he’s received ever since that day.

He also avoids the places that they frequently go to, which includes his beloved pizza joint. Baekhyun didn’t even go to his favorite little art shop in that neighborhood out fear that he might bump into Chanyeol.

“Dude you gotta tell us what’s up.” Jongdae says one afternoon, after he and Sehun ever so politely barges into his room. Baekhyun is convinced that Kyungsoo purposely let them into the apartment out of concern even when Baekhyun already told him not to.

“Nothing’s up.”

“Hyung, we haven’t seen you in weeks.” Sehun frowns.

“I think no one has seen him in weeks.” Jongdae adds.

“Technically, Junmyeon’s seen me plenty--”

“Even Kyungsoo’s worried about you.” Jongdae mumbles, sitting down on Baekhyun’s bed. “Come on, dude. what’s going on? Does this have anything to do with Chanyeol?”

“What makes you think that?” Baekhyun panics, did Chanyeol mention anything to either of them? He figures that wouldn’t be the case. If they knew just how much of an asshole Baekhyun was being to Chanyeol, both of them would have confronted him the moment they found out.

Jongdae persists. “Because you guys stopped hanging out? Did you guys fight?”  

“Nah, there’s no way they fought. Chanyeol looks as chipper as ever. He’s usually very expressive when he’s sad.” Sehun says, “Like every time he sees a stray cat. I swear you can see those gigantic ears of his droop.”

Great. Aside from the fact that Baekhyun has managed to make his soulmate hate him in the span of two minutes, he now also knows that he’s the only one miserable. But then again, Baekhyun isn’t in any position to be mad at Chanyeol. After all, he’s just doing what Baekhyun told him to: leaving him alone.

Baekhyun sighs, “Sehun’s right. We just haven’t found the time to hangout as much.” He lies through his teeth. He’s been lying a lot more than usual these days.

Sehun and Jongdae only looked at each other before deciding to drop the entire Chanyeol topic, much to Baekhyun’s relief. They stayed for a couple more hours to cheer him up, and Baekhyun has to admit, it did work a little bit. He’s been blessed with such good friends, but all he ever does is make them worry, lies to them and tell them to fuck off. He truly doesn’t deserve any of them.

Another week pass and Baekhyun decides that maybe, he should get a life.  _ A new hobby! _ That’s it, and even possibly a new friend, who hopefully isn’t his soulmate’s acquaintance in some bizarre fashion, like all of his other friends.

Yoga. That’s what Junmyeon had suggested to him one day in class. That, and daily meditation. Junmyeon claims it’s how he keeps himself calm and level headed. Baekhyun had to bite his own lip to keep himself from commenting on Junmyeon’s  _ ‘level headedness’. _

Not that he has anything else going for him, Baekhyun decides to try them both. He signs up for Yoga classes in the university gym and starts meditating every morning--or at least every time he remembers to do so.

He looks at himself in the mirror, staring at the result of an impulsive decision he made two days ago; his newly dyed ash grey hair. Baekhyun groans, he looks like a wannabe kpop star. Kyungsoo blankly stared at him for quite awhile when he first noticed Baekhyun’s hair but said nothing. And he’s been wearing oversized hoodies to hide his hair whenever he ventures outside to go to class. He doesn’t know what made him think he could pull off such a bold color.

Releasing a deep sigh, Baekhyun grabs his gym bag and goes to attend his second yoga class that week. Surprisingly, he’s already made a new friend--a very pretty senior called Bae Joohyun. She was kind enough to approach Baekhyun on his first day, probably taking pity in just how lost he looked that day. She’s fairly talkative too, similar to Baekhyun so conversations were easy.

Later, Baekhyun has agreed to grab a bite to eat with Joohyun after their class. Baekhyun offered waffles, but Joohyun insisted they get a smoothie instead. Baekhyun opens the door to the exit and holds it open for Joohyun when he’s greeted by the last person he wants to see.

“Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun can feel his heart thumping faster and faster. He hasn’t seen Chanyeol in a month. Park Chanyeol, his  _ soulmate _ . It’s the first time he’s seen Chanyeol in person after coming to terms with the fact that they were soulmates. And looking at him now, standing in front of him, Baekhyun feels like he’s about to burst. “H-Hi.” Baekhyun lamely says.

Almost immediately, Chanyeol looks at Joohyun who’s standing next to Baekhyun, politely smiles at her before excusing himself and disappearing into the changing room.

Baekhyun sighs and walks out the door, whilst Joohyun follows him to the smoothie place nearby.

“So...who was that?” Joohyun asks, taking a sip from her smoothie.

Baekhyun plays dumb, “Who was what?”

Joohyun frowns. “The tall guy we bumped into?”

“Oh, him. A friend.” He used to be. Baekhyun thinks to himself rather bitterly. That was probably the coldest Chanyeol had ever been to him. He didn’t think Chanyeol had it in him to be that cold, he always assumed that Chanyeol’s default settings as a human was to be kind, sweet and warm to all living beings on the planet.

Joohyun tilts her head, looking at Baekhyun, “Doesn’t seem very friendly, you two in a fight?”

“Sort of?”

“You wanna talk about it?” She offers after an understanding nod.

Under normal circumstances, Baekhyun would have said no, but after seeing Chanyeol for the first time in a long time, he feels overwhelmed. “I...said some horrible stuff to him.” Baekhyun takes a deep breath.

“What’d you say?”

“Basically, I was upset, and he tried to comfort me, so I told him to fuck off?” He said in one breath. Now that he had said it outloud, it just makes him feel more of an asshole.

“But why would you do that?” Joohyun stopped walking and frowned again.

“It’s complicated.” Baekhyun groans. Joohyun probably thinks he’s a complete dick. To be fair, he kind of is.

“Do you miss him? You sound like you miss him.” Joohyun asks.

Yes, Baekhyun misses his stupid jokes and the way he hits everything in sight when he’s laughing. And he isn’t quite sure what Joohyun meant by he sounds like he misses Chanyeol. Does it mean it’s obvious from the way he talks? But he hasn’t been talking much at all these days so it’s a safe bet that no one other than Joohyun knows just how much he misses Chanyeol.

“I don’t,” he stubbornly denies. “It’s just annoying because we have the same circle of friends.” It’s also annoying how he gets random flashbacks of Chanyeol, and all of their time together whenever someone mentions his name.

Joohyun remains quiet for a few seconds before taking another sip of her smoothie, “Go apologize to him. You clearly regret what you did and you can’t avoid your friends forever.”

Baekhyun hates to admit it, but she’s right. He’s running out of excuses to avoid his friends. He knows that he’ll have to face Chanyeol, eventually. The last thing he wants is for their friends to know what a jerk he had been to Chanyeol over essentially nothing. He sighs, “I just--I don’t know how to face him yet. What if he screams at me?” Chanyeol would never do that, and Baekhyun knows it.

“Wouldn’t be any worse than having your own friend telling you to fuck off without explaining why.” She shrugs.

Baekhyun cringes, he really should have handled things better. “You didn’t have to put it that way you know. But you’re right, I guess I should probably apologize.”

“Let’s go do that now.” Joohyun beams.

Baekhyun turns towards Joohyun and looked at her like she had grown a second head, “What? I didn’t mean now!”

“Why not? You know where he is, there’s really no difference in doing it now or later.” Joohyun says, grabbing Baekhyun’s arm and drags him back towards the gym.

“Uh yes, there is? Like me still needing to come up with an apology?” Baekhyun says, still letting himself be dragged by Joohyun who was considerably smaller than he was.

“Just tell him what you really feel.” She quirks her head, and flashes Baekhyun a reassuring smile.

Baekhyun doesn’t have much of a choice when it comes to Chanyeol.

Joohyun practically yanks and drags Baekhyun all the way back to the university gym, the lady at the reception threw them a weird look considering they were there only half an hour ago. When Joohyun spots Chanyeol in the weights room, she pushes Baekhyun their rather harshly, causing quite a ruckus resulting in everyone in the room to look at him, Chanyeol included.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol is surprised.

“H-Hi again, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun starts, “Look. I know this is hardly the place and time,” He looks around the weight room, and anywhere really except for Chanyeol’s eyes, “But can we talk?”

Chanyeol remains quiet for long moment before finally agreeing.

Relief washes over Baekhyun. Chanyeol didn’t scream at him nor give him the cold shoulder, like he expected to. but he keeps forgetting Chanyeol isn’t an asshole, that title is exclusive to only him.

He takes a deep breath, “I-I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you for no reason. Well, to be fair I did have my reasons, but that’s not the point! The point is I’m really, really sorry and I completely understand if you hate me because you didn’t deserve that you’re such a good friend--”

“You wanna take a walk?” Chanyeol cuts him off.

“--and I was acting like a complete ass--what?” Baekhyun must’ve heard wrong, did Chanyeol just ask him to go on a walk? While he was in the middle of his apology?

“After I shower. Let me walk you home.”

Baekhyun looks at him and squints, he hates how Chanyeol is an open book yet he’s impossible to read. “You’re not mad at me?” He asks carefully, even though he knows that’s probably not the case. Maybe Baekhyun’s apology pissed him off even more and now he wants to beat him up outside. No, that’s definitely not it. Chanyeol isn’t the type to beat people up. Jesus, why would he even think that? Maybe it’s because he’s panicking.

“Oh no, I’m pissed, but a walk sounds nicer than talking in a gym. Don’t you agree?” Chanyeol lets out a bitter laugh, almost like a scoff.

Chanyeol seems to be taking everything all too well, making Baekhyun confused and at the same time, surprised. “I guess?”

“Let me take a quick shower and change first, then.”

Baekhyun wanted to point out that Chanyeol had only worked out for at least half an hour, but he didn’t want to piss Chanyeol off more than he already did, and he sure isn’t turning down an opportunity to talk. He doesn’t think he’ll ever have the courage to approach him again like that again, so he nods.

Looking around the gym, Baekhyun notices that Joohyun is nowhere to be found. She probably went home after seeing him talk to Chanyeol. Once Chanyeol emerges from the changing room, Baekhyun follows him out the door, quite unsure of what to expect from their walk.

Over the past few months, Baekhyun has been on numerous walks together with Chanyeol, all of them mostly in the cold, but his cheeks are usually warm as a result of laughter and playful banter. This time however, Baekhyun only feels himself being enveloped by cold and a painfully uncomfortable silence.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun starts again, stopping in his tracks, “I really meant what I said. I really am sorry.”

Chanyeol also stops and looks at him, hands still in the pocket of his jacket. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What?” Baekhyun expected to be yelled at but he hadn’t anticipated a question. Certainly not the same question he had asked then.

“That day. Did I do something to you?” Chanyeol asks again.

“Well,  _ technically, _ no--”

“Technically? So you were upset at me?” He frowns.

Baekhyun bites his lower lip. He can’t lie, damn it. “Yes.”

Chanyeol’s frown deepen, “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I know I was just--I don’t know okay? I was overreacting and I thought it was stupid and I didn’t want you think I was a child.” So he threw a tantrum instead, brilliant!

“I got upset because of the entire ploy you had going on with Jongin. You know, the one where you tried to set me up with him?” He’s not even lying, Baekhyun was so fucking butthurt about the whole thing, and it was one of the reasons he snapped. “I know it sounds stupid, but Jongin told me about all those times you asked me to come hangout was because he asked you to. I got upset thinking that you didn’t actually want to spend time with me.”

Chanyeol frowns again for a few seconds, trying to take in the what Baekhyun had just told him before his eyes starts to slowly grow wider, “ _ That’s  _ the reason you got upset? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Baekhyun agrees, it’s probably the stupidest thing  _ he’s  _ ever heard. It also sounds a lot stupider now that he’s said it out loud.

“You know how much I love having you around. I wouldn’t have invited you over during Christmas break if I didn’t. Jongin wasn’t even in the city then.” Chanyeol slings an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder.

It’s bizarre knowing that every word that comes out of Chanyeol’s mouth is the truth, and in a way, it’s also comforting. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“If you buy me ice cream, I’ll pretend the entire thing never happened.” Chanyeol smiles at him, as if they didn’t just had a month long fight. “I’m sorry I tried setting you up with Jongin. You did say you like him so I thought it was okay.” He adds, looking slightly apologetic at Baekhyun.

“Yeah. I like him, but only as a friend.“ Baekhyun chuckles.

Chanyeol lets out a sigh, “Should’ve listened when you told me you didn’t want to date.” Baekhyun hears him mumble to himself.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I want anymore.” He admits. At this point he really doesn’t. Fuck, he has a lot stuff to figure out.

“Are you telling me you’ve changed your mind? Is that why you were at the gym?” Chanyeol jokes, “To hit on hot girls like earlier?”

Baekhyun scoffs, “For your information I’m only at the gym to take yoga and I was not hitting on Joohyun, she happens to be my only friend there.” Junmyeon will probably kill him if Baekhyun made any kind of moves on Joohyun.

Chanyeol stares at him in confusion, “You’re...taking yoga?”

“I took a friend’s suggestion, okay?” Baekhyun says defensively, what’s so bad about taking yoga anyway?

“Is the hair also a suggestion?” Chanyeol laughs, ruffling Baekhyun’s newly colored hair. He’s never coloring his hair again. In fact, he’s going to wear a hat from now on.

Baekhyun groans, “Stop judging. I had a rough month.”

“I think you look really good with that color.” Chanyeol smiles at him, “So are you though?” He asks again.

“Am I what?”

“Interested in dating?” Man, is Chanyeol’s persistent. Baekhyun groans internally, he really rather not discuss this with the one person he can’t lie to.

Besides, the last time Baekhyun dated, save for a few random hookups and dates, was in freshman year. Although, he’s never really had a real meaningful relationship. “Depends on the person, I guess.”

Surprisingly, Chanyeol seems to be satisfied with his answer and drops it almost immediately.

Like he promised earlier, Chanyeol does end up walking Baekhyun back to his apartment. After Baekhyun buys him ice cream that is.

♡♡

Things between them naturally fall back almost immediately. If anything, they’re much closer than they’ve ever been. Baekhyun barely remembers their fight at this point and he’s just happy that he has his friend back. Not being able to talk to Chanyeol for a whole month sucked, but now he’s back to calling Chanyeol just to rant about another snobby kid in his class, and Chanyeol empathizes with him by telling him about his distaste of students who always suck up to their professors just to get mark up on their grades.

“Why am I here again Baek?” Chanyeol asks Baekhyun, later that evening in the middle of the sauce aisle in a nearby grocery store.

“You said you wanted a movie night, and we’re getting snacks.” Baekhyun says, eyes scanning the shelves in search for some snacks and any sort of condiments or sauce that he might need.

“Can’t we watch the movie without snacks?” Chanyeol complains, but he still follows Baekhyun anyway.

Baekhyun stops and turns towards the taller. “Chanyeol, that’s outrageous. I thought you said you were against people watching movies without snacks.”

“In theaters yes, at home? It’ll just make me fat,” Chanyeol says. “And I’m trying to maintain my figure.” He pats his stomach, and winks.

Baekhyun snorts, this nerd had the nerve to wink at him. “You sound like a suburban housewife.” He teases, lightly hitting Chanyeol’s stomach.

“Baek, that’s mean.” Chanyeol grins from ear to ear.

“Look, I’ll pay for the snacks so you pick out whatever you want, okay? And go get me chips while you’re at it.” Baekhyun says, as he goes back looking for sauce.

A few minutes later he finds Chanyeol in one of the aisles hugging at least seven different bags of chips. Despite his size, he still looks, and sometimes acts like a kid. “Wow, you went crazy with the chips eh?” Baekhyun looks at him with an amused expression.

“Oh these? No, they’re for you. I didn’t know what you liked so I just picked out the ones that look good.” He casually says.

“Let’s just go with these two, shall we? I don’t need one from every brand.” Baekhyun takes out two out of the seven bags of chips Chanyeol was holding. “And what are you getting?” He asks.

After running back to the remainder of the chips back into their respective shelves, Chanyeol comes back and scans the aisle, then grabs two chocolate bars and a bag of cookies. “I think I still have some milk at home so these should be good.”

“Milk and Cookies? For someone who drinks his coffee black you sure have a baby’s preference when it comes to snacks.” Baekhyun comments. How can this man’s existence be so painfully endearing?

♡

 

After their third movie that night, they find themselves in a comfortable silence. The both of them just lying down on Chanyeol’s bed, without really doing anything.

“Hey, Baek?” Chanyeol shifts to lie on his side, looking towards Baekhyun.

Baekhyun is currently lying on his front, using his arms to support his weight while he mindlessly scrolls through his phone. “What is it?” He turns to look at Chanyeol, locking his phone and setting it aside.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Why do you always want to know what I’m thinking?” Baekhyun smiles softly at the taller. Despite being slightly nervous from the proximity, Baekhyun feels so at ease and relaxed.

Chanyeol shrugs, “No particular reason.” He smiles back. “Tell me.”

“I’m thinking of how relaxed I feel right now.” Baekhyun admits. “It’s amazing, I feel like I could just lie here forever and not worry about anything.” He continues, not breaking his eye contact with Chanyeol. It’s probably because he’s just had such a mentally exhausting month not too long ago. He also guesses, it’s probably because he now has Chanyeol back at his side.

“I know what you mean.” Chanyeol agrees. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relax.” He suddenly gets up from his bed to retrieve something from his drawer, he then walks back and slightly jumps onto his bed and lies back down to his original position, only this time with an object in hand.

The object Baekhyun soon discovers, is an analog camera. Chanyeol holds it up to his face and snaps a picture of Baekhyun. “Hey--what the fuck Yeol?” Baekhyun jokingly scolds him.

“Nothing. I just wanted to document this moment.” Chanyeol says. “It’s not everyday I get to see you so relaxed.” Chanyeol smiles at him and takes another picture.

“Stop it!” Baekhyun protests. Out of all the moments Chanyeol wants to document, he picks one where Baekhyun looks like he just rolled out of bed. “Give me the camera. It’s not fair if I’m the only one getting my pictures taken.”

Chanyeol laughs and hands him the camera, then he does a V pose as Baekhyun holds up the camera to take a picture. Baekhyun lightly kicks Chanyeol’s leg causing laughter to erupt from both of them, even though nothing is particularly funny. Baekhyun guesses it’s probably just one of those moments where you can just laugh at anything.

Once their laughter dies down, Chanyeol suggests they take a selfie. “You know, this would be easier if we just used our phones.” Baekhyun suggests, adjusting his head on Chanyeol’s chest.

“Yeah, but it won’t be the same.” Chanyeol argues. “I’ll give you one copy once I get these developed.”

“Why do you even have an analog camera?” Baekhyun asks, still not moving his head from Chanyeol’s chest.

“One of my hobbies.” He says, putting down the camera on his night stand.

Baekhyun an eyebrow and looks up at Chanyeol. “Nerd.”

Chanyeol chuckles and gently kicks his leg in return.

“What about that song you’ve been working on? Is it done?” Baekhyun asks, recalling that one time Chanyeol mentioned something about working on a song.

“Almost,” He says. “It’s done, but I’m just not ready to let the world hear it.”

Baekhyun hums. “Don’t forget that promise of yours. Show it to me when it’s done.”

“So demanding.” Chanyeol chuckles and jokingly shakes his head, so Baekhyun teasingly pulls his ear in return.

♡♡

A few weeks after, Baekhyun returns from class and he sees Chanyeol sitting on the stairway of his apartment building. He smiles and is about to walk up to him when he sees the door opening, revealing none other than his roommate. Realizing that he doesn’t want to be seen by either of them, he hides behind a lamp post and observes from afar.

Chanyeol stands up and grins at Kyungsoo.  _ Oh _ . Chanyeol’s there to see Kyungsoo. He feels like an idiot thinking that Chanyeol would only come over for him, when in reality, it’s always been Kyungsoo he’s interested in. The two walk off somewhere, in what Baekhyun guesses must be a date.

Feeling the sudden sting in his eyes, Baekhyun goes to a nearby park instead of going home. He then sits on an empty swing and lets out a sigh. He buries his face in his hands. He’s done trying to argue with himself, he knows why he’s, yet again, upset by the idea of Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. No matter how much he tries to convince to himself that he’s already made up his mind about putting Kyungsoo’s happiness first, he still feels like shit, and seeing them together hurts more than he ever thought it would.

It’s painfully clear, yet Baekhyun isn’t ready to admit to himself, let alone others, about how he truly feels. For now, he just wants to talk to someone. He wants a shoulder to lean on and chew somebody’s ear off complaining about how he hates Chanyeol at the moment.

Thinking about Chanyeol hurts, but he’s the only thing that fills his mind. He wants to avoid Chanyeol for the rest of his life, yet he’s the only one he wants to talk to right now. He doesn’t want a shoulder to lean on, he wants Chanyeol’s shoulder and and his warm smile to comfort him.

Ironic how the source of his pain is also the only person that could give him any sort of comfort. Baekhyun stares at his phone, more accurately, he’s staring at Chanyeol’s number. His thumb hovering over the call button.

He wants to hear Chanyeol’s voice. Just a second of it would be enough and he can carry on for the rest of the day, but he’s out with Kyungsoo now. What kind of a friend would Baekhyun be if he disturbs his two friends when they’re on a date.

God he feels like shit. Why is he acting so miserable when he’s the one who helped Chanyeol and Kyungsoo getting together? He made up his mind about this almost a month ago.

Thinking that he might explode, Baekhyun presses the call button and lets out a shaky breath as he waits for the number to connect.

Chanyeol picks up almost immediately, causing Baekhyun to panic.

Baekhyun doesn’t even know what to say. He didn’t think he’d actually call Chanyeol, and most of all he didn’t think Chanyeol would actually pick up, and definitely not on the first ring.

“Baek, are you there?”

He feels his heart quicken at the sound of his soulmate’s voice and then he inhales and, as a result, Chanyeol can hear his sniffles, “Baek, are you crying? Are you okay? Did something happen? Are you hurt?!” He asks, panic and worry ever so present in his voice.

“N-no!” Baekhyun quickly says slightly stammering, “I’m not hurt. I just...I really--you know what never mind! Forget I called!” Baekhyun frantically taps end call on his phone and sighs.

He didn’t know why he even called. He wanted to say that he accidentally dialed the wrong number, but he can’t lie to his soulmate even through the phone. He physically couldn’t and it’s starting to piss him off.

Not ten seconds later, his phone starts to vibrate, it’s Chanyeol calling him back. He does not respond despite the other ringing him several times. Knowing the younger, he won’t stop calling until he’s absolutely sure that Baekhyun isn’t in some sort of trouble. So, Baekhyun decides to send Chanyeol a short text assuring him that he is fine and he should stop worrying.

Just like he thought, after Baekhyun had sent the text, the calls stopped. He then takes a deep breath and releases another heavy sigh.

Fantastic, now Baekhyun has definitely ruined their date. There’s no way both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would be able to carry on with their date after such a strange phone call from him. He laughs bitterly at himself, he’s such a shitty friend. And probably a shitty person too. He really needs to get his shit together. Sooner or later, he needs to find a way to deal with seeing Chanyeol and Kyungsoo together.

It doesn’t matter if he has to keep a distance between himself and the two of them, but he  _ has  _ to if he wants to keep his piece of mind. He can’t go run off crying every time he sees them together, and considering he lives with Kyungsoo, he’s going to adjust. Fast.

He sits there for awhile, not really doing anything but thinking of the best possible way to avoid both of his friends. But learning from that one month he tried to avoid Chanyeol, it would be impossible to avoid both Kyungsoo  _ and  _ Chanyeol without avoiding his other friends. So what does that mean? Does that mean in order for him to keep his sanity, he has to be friendless until he graduates? Or at least until the sight of Kyungsoo and Chanyeol doesn’t make him want to cry, but Baekhyun’s pretty sure graduation will come faster before than that.

“There you are,” A voice stops his thoughts.

Baekhyun looks up and sees a distressed Chanyeol, panting. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Who knew you’d be at the park.” He adds, flashing him a small smile of relief.

“Why--What are you doing here?” Baekhyun is flustered. He quickly wipes his eyes and cheeks.

When his breathing calmed down, Chanyeol takes a seat on the swing next to Baekhyun. “I was worried. You sounded like you were in trouble.”

Baekhyun turns away from him, “I said I was fine.” He stubbornly argues.

“Didn’t sound fine to me.” Chanyeol argues back, resting his arm on his knees, slightly leaning forward in what seems to be an attempt to meet Baekhyun’s eyes.

Looking at Chanyeol is probably one of the hardest things Baekhyun has to do these days, so he stares blankly at the trees in front of him instead, “So you just dropped everything and went to me?”

“Sort of? I was with Kyungsoo anyway, he understood.” Chanyeol says. So he really did look for Baekhyun after that phone call.  _ Damn it _ . He knew he shouldn’t have called. Now Baekhyun feels even more like an ass for ruining their date.

“So you blew off Kyungsoo just to find me? How perfect.” Baekhyun says.

“Baek, are you upset?”

“I am now. Why the fuck would you do that?” Baekhyun turns to look at Chanyeol, finally meeting his eyes.

Chanyeol starts to frown. “Because you were crying? What am I supposed to do? Carry on with my night and pretend that didn’t happen?” He argues.

“Yes! That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to go on with your little date and be happy for fuck’s sake!” Baekhyun snaps.

“Let me get this straight you’re upset because I came to you?” Chanyeol looks at him in disbelief.

“It’s not--just go away Chanyeol.” Baekhyun tries to wave it off, despite knowing it won't work.

“Absolutely not. We’re not having this fight again Baekhyun.” Chanyeol firmly says. ”I’m staying here and you’re going to explain why you’re so upset.”

Baekhyun knew he’d say that. There’s no way Chanyeol’s leaving him alone after a misunderstanding, not after the last time he did resulting him and Baekhyun not speaking for an entire month.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then help me understand.”

“Look, I really can’t do this now Yeol. I already feel like shit for ruining your date.” Baekhyun sighs, he really has no energy to deal with his own feelings, let alone Chanyeol.

“What date?” Chanyeol asks, looking confused.

Baekhyun turns towards him, raising an eyebrow. “Uh, your date with my roommate? Remember him? Cute, heart shaped lips, glasses, slightly hostile? The love of your life?”

“I wasn’t on a date with Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol says.

Baekhyun stares at him. He knew Chanyeol was somewhat oblivious at times but he can’t be that oblivious. “You went out together with the guy you like, alone. That’s a date.”

“But I don’t like him that way?” Chanyeol says. “At least not anymore.”

What Chanyeol doesn’t seem to realize is that he had just dropped a bomb on Baekhyun.

“What the fuck are you saying? You were head over heels for him a month ago!” He stands up from the swing. There’s no way he’s changed his mind in a month.

“A lot happened in that month, I haven’t had the chance to tell you yet.” Chanyeol looks up at him, trying to reason. Well, Baekhyun might have missed a few things here and there from the two of them ignoring each other but thought Chanyeol would have mentioned something this big to him the moment they started speaking again.

“Tell me what?”

“Kyungsoo and I talked about it and we decided it’s better to stay friends?” Chanyeol gives him a small smile.

Baekhyun frowns. They did? And Kyungsoo never even bothered to mention this to him? “When did this happen exactly?” He asks. Details, he needs every detail of this story.

“After you told me to fuck off? We went on a real date once.” Chanyeol says, now also standing up and towering over Baekhyun.

So they went on a real date, without Baekhyun realizing it? He should’ve realized if Kyungsoo was going on a date. But considering Baekhyun had been a complete shut in during the previous month, it’s possible that he might have missed it.

It still doesn’t explain why Kyungsoo never mentioned anything to him. He thinks it’s probably he was extra moody that month, and he didn’t really have any sort of conversation with anyone other than Junmyeon. If he were to be completely honest with himself, he also kinda avoided Kyungsoo, just a tiny bit.

“Wait--Did he reject you or did you reject him?” Baekhyun asks, still trying to make sense of the whole thing.

Chanyeol closes his eyes to think for a few seconds. “Uh, it was a little bit of both? He says he couldn’t be in a relationship with me and I just somehow felt that it wasn’t right with him.”

It was mutual? The Kyungsoo part he can understand, it’s only natural for Kyungsoo to second guess his decision after not dating for so long, but Chanyeol’s? Baekhyun can feel his temper rising again already.

“Are you even hearing yourself right now? How would you know what’s right after one date?” He says as calmly as he can, still trying to suppress his outburst.

“Because I already know how it’ll feel when it’s right.” Chanyeol says casually.

And just like that his anger is replaced with confusion once more.

“How?” He says crossing his arms, eye brows quirked.

A fond smile forms on Chanyeol’s handsome face. “Because I’ve felt it.”

Baekhyun gawks at him. “You’ve... _ felt _ it?” Does that mean in the span of one month, Chanyeol was able to move on from Kyungsoo  _ and _ fall for someone new? His heart jumped ship in one fucking month? Unbelievable.

“Yup.” He nods.

“But not with Kyungsoo?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head.

“Then why don’t you date them then?” Baekhyun says, starting to feel more and more irritated. “If it feels so right.”

Guess he was wrong about Chanyeol genuinely liking Kyungsoo. One moment he says he likes Kyungsoo, and now he says it feels right with some other guy, or girl. Who the fuck cares at this point?

“He’s not interested in dating,” Chanyeol says, smile not faltering despite Baekhyun’s scowl. “And a bit stubborn too.”

So it’s a he. That narrows down a few things.

“He sounds like a piece of work.” Baekhyun says. He can’t believe Chanyeol is really setting Kyungsoo aside for a guy who isn’t even interested in a relationship. Maybe it’s not too late to slap some sense to him, Baekhyun thinks.

“He is,” Chanyeol laughs, “but he’s also funny, talkative, has the same sense of humor as I do. Oh, and he’s super cute.” He adds.

Baekhyun continues to gawk at him in disbelief. “I can’t fucking believe you. A month ago you were gushing over Kyungsoo, I thought you were serious about him.”

“I was!” Chanyeol quickly says. “But people can’t help it when their feelings change, Baek.”

Baekhyun’s suddenly reminded of his own feelings that’s changed over the course of the last few months, and he suddenly feels bad for yelling at Chanyeol just because his feelings changed. The last thing he wants to be right now is to be a hypocrite.

“Yeah? What changed your mind?” He asks instead, diverting his eyes to the monkey bar behind Chanyeol.

“He still looks super attractive even when he’s scowling at me in an ugly Christmas sweater.”

Having a hard time comprehending what Chanyeol just had said, Baekhyun shifts his gaze back to Chanyeol when he realizes the meaning behind his words. “Chanyeol, are you--you’re not saying what I think you’re saying are you?” He feels his eyes growing wider, from Chanyeol’s perspective, his eyes must’ve been bulging right now.

Still having his grin intact, Chanyeol doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that Baekhyun has caught on to the point of their entire conversation. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” This bastard is really trying to make Baekhyun say it out loud. Not happening. Not in a million years.

Chanyeol playfully leans in, “Well, to be fair, I can’t read your mind so I could be wrong.”  He’s getting way too close for Baekhyun’s liking.

Baekhyun needs to sit down. “Fuck, there’s no way this is happening.” He takes a few steps back, giving him and Chanyeol a slight distance.

“He also curses a lot.”

“This can’t be happening.” With each second that goes by, his heart races faster and faster.

“Why not?” Chanyeol cocks his head.

“Because!” Baekhyun starts. “You’re supposed to like my best friend! You’re supposed to help him move on and make him believe that love exists outside of soulmates!” He screams exasperatedly.

“Baek that’s--”

“No! You don’t understand--you don’t get it, Yeol.” Baekhyun cuts him off. “The fact that he was willing to give you a chance was--”

“But I like  _ you _ !” Chanyeol exclaims rather loudly, he then runs his hand through his hair and scratches the back of his head, “Baek, I don’t--I have feelings for you. Not Kyungsoo. You can’t force me to like him just because you don’t feel the same way as I do.”

And there it is. Those three words. The three words he wanted to hear yet also dreaded.

“I’m not forcing you to do anything, you liked him a month ago, feelings don’t fade away that fast.” Baekhyun says quietly, eyes fixated on his shoes.

“They don’t. I still like Kyungsoo, but the more I get to know him, the more I feel like we’re better off as friends.” Chanyeol replies, placing both of his hands on his hips.

“What about Jongin then? You know he likes me, but you’re still doing this?” Baekhyun motions the distance between him and Chanyeol with his hands rather frantically, “Whatever this is.”

This is what Jongin had accused of Chanyeol just a month ago, surely he’ll be hurt when he finds out that Chanyeol does indeed like him and is going after him just like he suspected. Albeit, it happens much later than he originally thought.

“Don’t you think I realize that? Baek, I know it’s shitty of me and selfish to go after you despite knowing how Jongin feels but-- I just, I can’t help it,” Chanyeol sighs, “It’s not like I planned for this to happen. I met you, I got to know you, and I fell for you.”

How is Baekhyun supposed to breathe after hearing those words.

“Look Baek, you don’t have to feel the same way,” Chanyeol starts. “It’s not like I’m forcing you to accept my feelings. I know you’re not interested in dating and I respect that,” The then smiles apologetically. “I wasn’t even planning on telling you how I felt, well at least not now.”

“Then why did you?” Both of their lives would be a lot easier if Chanyeol had stick to his original plan.

“It just sort of happened?” Chanyeol croaks out, he then clears his throat. “I know I’m asking a lot, but we can still be friends right? Things don’t have to be awkward between us.” He says, offering Baekhyun a small smile.

Baekhyun remains mum. Chanyeol sure is quick into making assumptions, he assumed Baekhyun liked Jongin and now he’s assuming that he has no feelings towards him, whatsoever.

“You’re fine with us being just friends?” Baekhyun looks at him.

“I’m not gonna force you to do anything you don’t want to.” Chanyeol replies, “You already told me you’re not into dating right now and I knew that going into this.”

“Okay.”

“So we’re good?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun finally gives him a small smile.

 

Going forward, things weren’t as awkward as Baekhyun expected them to be. If anything, nothing feels like it really changed. True to his word, Chanyeol acts like nothing happened. He still calls Baekhyun to talk about his day, he comes over to hang out and invites him out whenever he and Sehun or Jongin are about to catch a movie 

Baekhyun can’t say he’s displeased with the entire situation given the circumstances, he just feels like this is too easy? Almost like the life he’s living now is a ticking time bomb.

“You’re acting weird.” Jongdae suddenly says, as they browse through a selection of very overpriced hats. It’s a Tuesday night and Baekhyun was dragged to the mall against his will by Jongdae because he insisted he needed a second opinion on what to give Minseok on their anniversary the following day. Jongdae’s also one of those people that always forgets important dates, luckily Minseok is one of those people who don’t really give a shit.

Baekhyun stiffens but keeps pretending to be looking at the hats, so he grabs one and pretends to check the price of the item, “What the fuck are you on about?” He spouts rather rudely. He doesn’t like it when people are on to him.

“This past week,” Jongdae starts, unfazed by Baekhyun’s profanity. “I dunno. I can’t put my finger on it but something is definitely up with you.”

“Rough week.” In fairness, it’s been a rough year for Baekhyun so far.

“But you’re still going to Chanyeol’s thing right?” Jongdae turns to look at him, handing him a hat. Baekhyun assumes Jongdae wants his opinion on the overpriced snapback.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, Chanyeol has a thing? “What thing?” He asks taking the snapback from Jongdae.

“His gig? At PH this Saturday?”

Baekhyun frowns, Chanyeol never mentioned anything about a gig. Huh, guess he’s not invited then. “No.”

“What? Why?” Jongdae looks at him confused, “Did you two get into another fight?”

“No.” Pretty sure they were on good terms the last time they spoke, “I hate Potato Head.” He does. All of his friends should know this by now. Apparently none of them like Baekhyun enough to find a new bar to frequent in. That or they probably realize Baekhyun dislikes bars in general.

Jongdae groans, “Oh, come on. Can’t you make an exception for once? This is Chanyeol we’re talking about, and the entire crew is going.” Baekhyun internally cringes at the word crew.

Apparently everyone in their circle is invited except him, technically Jongdae ask him to go but Chanyeol purposely excluded him. If he were actually invited, Baekhyun would be more than happy to put aside his hatred of the stupid club, but now the whole thing is just pissing him off. Baekhyun can feel his eyes starting to sting and he decides to pick up his pace, he decides he wants to ditch Jongdae as quickly as he can.

He gives the hat back to the nearest shop assistant he can find and makes a beeline towards the exit.

“Dude, where are you going? You in a hurry or something?” Jongdae says, trying to catch up with his friend.

“Tired.” Baekhyun manages to croak out, still blinking rapidly in an effort to prevent any tears from forming in his eyes. He’s relieved when he sees Jongdae agreeing with him and decides to call it a night.

When he reaches his apartment, Baekhyun walks in, ignores Kyungsoo who’s looking at him rather curiously and bolts right into his room. He dives onto his bed and buries his face in his pillow.

He hates the fact that he almost cried over the whole thing. Maybe this was Chanyeol’s way of saying he secretly hates Baekhyun for rejecting his feelings. Except, Baekhyun never rejected him, the dude didn’t even give him a chance to think before assuming his feelings were one-sided. His train of thought is disrupted by the vibration coming from his pocket, he reaches for his phone and sees a notification from none other than Chanyeol himself.

Doesn’t seem like Chanyeol’s mad at him. Maybe Chanyeol just forgot to invite him to the entire thing.

Yeah. right. If Chanyeol remembers to tell Baekhyun that he had a dreaded dentist appointment three weeks from now, he can remember a fucking gig.

Saturday rolls around and Baekhyun still finds himself down in the dumps, he told Jongdae that he isn’t feeling well hence him not coming to Potato Head, but it’s really just him and his pride not wanting to admit to literally everyone that he was the only odd one out.

What’s worse is that the gig seems to be a pretty important one for Chanyeol. Something about him performing an original piece or some shit, Baekhyun wouldn’t know considering he isn’t invited. Fuck, he’s gonna be bitter about this entire thing for a while isn’t he?

Hell, even Kyungsoo’s going and the guy has never stepped foot into Potato Head in the last three years he’s been in university.

Not wanting to sulk around any longer, Baekhyun finds himself standing among the crowd in Potato Head. Not even two minutes in and he’s already regretting his impulsive decision to confront Chanyeol. He looks around the bar, contemplating whether or not he should go back to his dorm.

He then flinches when he hears Jongdae’s obnoxiously loud laugh coming from all the way across the room, he quickly adjusts his hoodie to hide most of his face. Why is he doing this to himself? Baekhyun turns towards the door and tries to reach for it when he hears the speaker turning on.

“Test, one, two,” Someone--who is unmistakably Chanyeol--taps the mic, “Uh this is working right?” He says chuckling into the mic.

Baekhyun stops in his tracks and then turns towards the small stage at the corner of the bar. There, he sees Chanyeol, dressed casually in a baggy white shirt and ripped jeans. Even when he’s performing he doesn’t bother dressing up. But he looks good nonetheless.

“Hi everyone, my name’s Chanyeol.” He starts, with a shy smile, “I play here sometimes just for fun, but mostly because my friends peer pressure me into it.” Almost immediately, loud cheers coming from Jongdae’s table erupts. Baekhyun spots Sehun, Minseok, Jongin and also Kyungsoo sitting with a rather fond smile on his face.

“Uh..today I’m gonna play something that I’ve been working on for a couple of months, it’s a song,” Baekhyun wonders if it’s the song he mentioned that one time during Christmas, the one he refused to show Baekhyun.

“It’s called Wait, so yeah I hope you guys don’t hate it at least.” He chuckles, Chanyeol strums his guitar experimentally a couple of times before he starts singing.

The first words of the song was a question,

_ What are you thinking about? _

Baekhyun can feel himself being entranced by Chanyeol’s singing. And the more he listens to the words of the song, he slowly realizes where Chanyeol finally got inspiration for his lyrics.

_ All I do is wait. _

Those are the words that Chanyeol repeats throughout the song, and also the last few words of the song.

Baekhyun snaps out of his trance when he hears the applause and cheers of the crowd. He can see Chanyeol smiling sheepishly, almost shyly and bowing in every direction.

After the performance, Baekhyun keeps his gaze on Chanyeol and follows him to what seems to be the back room of the bar. He peeks through the crack of the white door and spots Chanyeol, zipping up his guitar case.

“Great song.” He says, making his presence known, once he’s sure that Chanyeol is alone.

“Baek? Hey,” Chanyeol turns towards him, eyes wide, “Why--I mean what are you doing here?”

“I invited myself to see your gig. Hope you don’t mind.” Baekhyun says with a smile, albeit a sarcastic smile. To make sure he has some decent privacy, he closes the door behind him.

“Oh. Right. Sorry I wanted to invite you but--” Chanyeol stammers.

“But?” Baekhyun leans back on the door.

“Are you pissed?” Chanyeol asks, almost as if he’s bracing himself for another outburst from him. Baekhyun can’t really blame him for that, he is after all an emotional wreck at this point.

He crosses his arm and shrugs. “Depends on your answer.”

Chanyeol sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It’s because I’m embarrassed, okay? And I didn’t want to waste your time and I was kinda scared you’d say no so I never asked.” He rambles.

Baekhyun nods and frowns. “Why would you be embarrassed?”

“Well, first you’re a much better singer than I am--”

He doesn’t even bother to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. “Bullshit, you were great.” Chanyeol surprisingly doesn’t give himself much credit when it comes to his singing.

“And I don’t know how you’ll react when you hear the song. Since you know, it’s kinda personal?” Chanyeol continues. “And I know I said I’ll show you the song once it’s done but, I don’t know, after what happened I just...I couldn’t pluck up the courage.”

Baekhyun can feel his heart beating faster again and butterflies fluttering in his stomach in the best possible way. And he can understand where Chanyeol’s coming from, the entire song is basically a confession and a love letter.

“So you thought it was a good idea to invite everyone else but me?” Baekhyun asks instead.

“It was a last minute thing. I only told Jongdae and Kyungsoo, and you know how it is with Jongdae. He spreads word faster than wildfire.” Chanyeol smiles at him apologetically.

Baekhyun grunts in response, mildly satisfied with Chanyeol’s explanation.

“So...what’d you think of the song?” Chanyeol asks after a brief silence. Baekhyun notices he starts fiddling with his fingers.

He loved it. Especially the lyrics, and now all he wants to do is hear Chanyeol sing it to him again. Just at the thought of the words that Chanyeol poured into the song, his lips starts to slowly quirk into a small smile.

“Why are you even waiting?” He asks. What is there to wait for when Baekhyun’s already here?

“Because I don’t wanna accidentally miss my chance with you, you know, when or if you change your mind? I thought the song made that pretty clear.” Chanyeol admits. His ears tinted with a pretty shade of pink.

Not knowing what came over him, Baekhyun grabs Chanyeol’s shirt and pulls him in, pressing their lips together softly. He can feel Chanyeol stiffen for a few seconds before eventually melting into the kiss. Chanyeol’s lips felt better than he’d imagined, it’s much softer, fuller and definitely sweeter. Baekhyun starts to stand on his tippy toes when he feels Chanyeol’s arm wrapping around his waist, pulling him up.

Byun Baekhyun is kissing Park Chanyeol in the back room of Potato Head. He’s kissing his soulmate, in the back room of the bar he hates, and he feels like he’s walking on cloud nine.

He tilts his head slightly, and presses his lips onto Chanyeol with a bit more force. He earns a surprised groan from the taller and it makes his insides tingle. Chanyeol starts kissing him back with just as much force and Baekhyun can feel his legs turning into jelly. Only now does Baekhyun realize he’s been wanting to kiss Chanyeol for a long time.

They pull away once they hear the faint sounds of footsteps accompanied by what seems to be Jongdae’s voice. The kiss left the both of them breathless, and Baekhyun feels his lips tingling and swollen. Only a few seconds later, the door creaks open, “There you are--Baekhyun, you’re here!” Jongdae says, the moment he spots Baekhyun.

He is then followed by their entire group of friends. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”

“Last minute decision,” Baekhyun replies, still somewhat dazed.

“Dude, did you know there’s like a line of girls and a couple of guys asking around for your number?” Sehun says mostly to Chanyeol, but he also turns to Baekhyun, purely out excitement from Chanyeol’s sudden spike in popularity.

“So what’d you think of Chanyeollie’s song?” Minseok directs the question to Baekhyun. Baekhyun can’t help but stifle a laugh, even Minseok deems Chanyeol to be cute enough to call him by a nickname. The closest nickname he’s ever gotten from Minseok was ‘punk’, but he guesses it’s still a slight upgrade from Kyungsoo’s ‘fuckface’.

Suddenly Baekhyun can’t seem to look at the man in front of him in the eye, luckily he’s a head taller so Baekhyun stares into his chest instead.

“It was great. I was just telling him on how great he was on stage. Pure talent.” Baekhyun pats Chanyeol’s shoulder awkwardly and he can already feel Kyungsoo squinting at him suspiciously from afar.

Chanyeol snorts, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so many compliments in one sentence.” From the sound of his voice it seems like Chanyeol is still a little bit out of it too.

“You’re right. Baekhyun usually insults people every chance he gets.” Jongdae deadpans. Baekhyun turns towards Jongdae with a slightly offended expression. He does not insult people every chance he gets. Yes he’s rude but it’s mostly due to the amount of excessive profanity he uses.

“I give credit when credit’s due.” Baekhyun shrugs. He looks at Chanyeol and he sees his plump lips a bit more swollen than usual. And realizing that he was the cause of it, Baekhyun’s stomach is once more filled with fluttering butterflies, and he decides, he likes this feeling.

To Baekhyun’s surprise, Chanyeol doesn’t bring up their kiss at Potato Head. He acts like he usually does, like nothing’s changed between them. Just like he did when he confessed his feeling at the park not too long ago. Which is great because Baekhyun needs all the time he can get to figure out his own feelings. By this point, there’s no denying he has at least a significant amount of affection for the taller. Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol’s aware of them being soulmates, is that the reason why he’s suddenly disinterested in Kyungsoo?

No, that can’t be it. Chanyeol would’ve told him if he found out they were soulmates. He doesn’t like the type to keep secrets that big. It makes him all nervous and jittery. But then again, Baekhyun’s not the type to keep secrets either and yet he hasn’t told a single soul about the bond he has with Chanyeol.

A few weeks later, on a mundane Wednesday morning, Baekhyun, for the first time in months, decided that he won’t be wearing a coat outside. The weather is getting warmer and he couldn’t be more delighted. He opens the door and finds none other than his soulmate sitting on the porch of his building, “Yeol? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, there you are. I was afraid you were gonna skip class today or something.” Chanyeol says, standing up.

“What are doing on sitting on my porch?” He asks, walking down a few steps.

Chanyeol follows him. “Technically it’s still not your porch.” He then holds up cups of coffee from Starbucks.

“You came all the way here to bring me overpriced coffee…?” Baekhyun asks, looking at him confused. It could be that Chanyeol is he pulling a Jongin, where he’s going to bring Baekhyun coffee and snacks hoping that Baekhyun would take the hint, but that makes no sense considering Baekhyun already knows how Chanyeol feels about him.

And thanks to that impulsive...act, at the back room of Potato Head, Baekhyun’s sure Chanyeol has a pretty good idea of how he feels. His cheeks are already heating up at the thought.

“I guess and I thought it’ll be fun to just, I don’t know, walk to class together.” Chanyeol shrugs, as if they don’t already go on enough walks together. But Baekhyun isn’t going to complain, he loves going on long walks and Chanyeol is someone he enjoys walking with.

“Unless you switched your major, our classes are on opposite sides of campus.” He points out.

“Yeah, but I can always walk you to yours then walk to mine.” He says casually, as he hands Baekhyun his coffee.

Is this a part of his exercise routine or something because that’s ridiculous in Baekhyun’s opinion. But also kinda sweet. “What time is your class?” He asks.

“9.30am”

“It’s already 9.05am You’ll be late even if you run.” It’s sweet and all but Baekhyun isn’t too keen on the idea of Chanyeol missing his classes just to  _ walk  _ with him when they could just easily walk together after class.

“I’ve been told I have really long legs.” Chanyeol smirks mischievously, a strong wind hits them and Chanyeol adjusts the hood of his hoodie.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Do whatever you want.” Baekhyun sighs in defeat, taking a sip of the coffee. There’s really no arguing with this guy.

A few minutes into their walk, Chanyeol starts to speak again. “So Baek, you free tonight?” He asks.

“Yeah, why?” Baekhyun turns to look at him.

“Do you, uh, wanna have dinner with me?” He asks, his hand playing with the straw of his iced americano.

“Sure. Pizza sound good to you?”

“No!” Chanyeol quickly says, “No, wait, I mean like a real proper dinner? Somewhere a bit more fancy, or at least somewhere that has more than two employees.” He quickly adds after seeing the puzzled expression on Baekhyun’s face.

“So outside of the university area?” Baekhyun asks. Not quite sure why Chanyeol suddenly wants to go somewhere far just for food when they can have it easily delivered.

“Yeah, I made a reservation at this restaurant downtown if you wanna go. We can take my car.” Chanyeol says, and he then smiles sheepishly.

Oh, so it’s  _ that _ kind of dinner. Now this, Baekhyun is a hundred percent sure, is a date. There’s no way it’s not a date. And Baekhyun can already feel a small smile creeping up on his face at the thought of a date with Chanyeol. Damn it, he feels like recently he’s acting more and more like a teenage girl than a man in his twenties.

“Okay.” He says.

“Really?” Chanyeol beams, probably almost blinding Baekhyun with that bright teeth-rich smile of his. “Great then I’ll pick you up at around six?”

♡♡

“Going out?” Kyungsoo asks, he’s been trying out a recipe he found on the internet, and as a result, he hasn’t stepped out of the kitchen in the past four hours.

“Uh yeah, with Chanyeol.” Baekhyun answers, walking towards Kyungsoo and peering over his shoulder to see what he’s making. “I’ll probably be back before midnight though, we’re just going out for dinner.”

“Oh. I thought you had a date.” Kyungsoo looks at him. “You look more presentable than usual.” He adds before focusing back on his dish. What dish is so complicated that it takes literally more than four hours to make? Probably a lot, Baekhyun’s just too lazy to google and find out.

“There’s gotta be a compliment in there somewhere…” Baekhyun mumbles to himself. But he did put in a little bit more effort in getting ready for tonight. Chanyeol did say they were going somewhere a bit fancy, he wants to dress appropriately for the occasion.

“Say hi to him for me.” Kyungsoo says loudly as Baekhyun walks out the door.

When he peeks through the glass door of his apartment building he can already see Chanyeol’s car and the said owner of the car playing with his phone as he leans on the vehicle. Chanyeol has such a weird habit of waiting for Baekhyun in front of his building when he could easily wait in the living room instead, where there’s proper heating.

“You do realize you have my phone number right?” Baekhyun stifles a laugh. “What are doing standing around out here?” He then notices that Chanyeol, just like him, dressed up for this dinner of theirs. He looks, how shall Baekhyun put this,  _ extravagant _ . His hair is styled up and he’s dressed in a dark turtleneck underneath a brown overcoat. Jesus, he’s even wearing khakis.

Baekhyun wonders just how the hell is Chanyeol single for so long. He has always wondered but he never got around into asking, mostly because he knows he’ll have to admit out loud just how attractive Chanyeol is.

Chanyeol turns to him and smiles, Baekhyun feels Chanyeol eyes looking up and down at him. Suddenly, he wants to run back inside, there’s no way he can compete with how good Chanyeol looks right now. “I was 15 minutes early. Didn’t want to rush you.” He puts his phone in his pocket.

“Dork,” Baekhyun says, not meeting his eyes. “You could’ve waited inside. It’s not like my dad’s around to stare you down.”

“No. But Kyungsoo’s there and he’s just as scary as any dad.”

Baekhyun snorts at the thought of Kyungsoo sternly leering at Chanyeol and reminding the both of them to be back before ten. Not that he actually does that, but it’s not a hard picture to imagine, especially with how strict Kyungsoo is.

Baekhyun follows Chanyeol to his car and notices that he’s trying to open the door for him, he stares at Chanyeol, who after seeing the look on Baekhyun’s face changes his mind. He must’ve been scared that he might offend Baekhyun in some way. Hilarious, if anything Baekhyun’s amused at Chanyeol’s attempt to be extra polite tonight.

“I think you were supposed to turn left at that last intersection.” Baekhyun says, turning his head back to the road they had just passed. He’s pretty sure they passed that road twice by now.

“Yeah, but the road’s closed off and this is where the GPS is telling me to go…” Chanyeol says glancing back and forth at the GPS on his phone and the road in front of him.

Baekhyun snickers. He always knew Chanyeol has a bad sense of direction, and he thought that was exclusive to locations in games, but apparently it applies in real life. “The GPS is drunk, we’ve been going around in circles for an hour. We’ve missed our reservation let’s just go somewhere else.” Baekhyun offers with a smile.

Chanyeol looks disappointed, “Okay where do you wanna go?” He says with a slight pout.

“Anywhere where there’s food. I’m starving.” He says, patting Chanyeol’s shoulder to comfort him. He turns to Chanyeol and gives him a smile. Despite them not really getting into their actual destination, Baekhyun’s already having a good time, just driving around like this with Chanyeol. But then again, it’s hard to  _ not  _ have a good time when he’s with Chanyeol.

They eventually stopped at a burger joint in a somewhat unfamiliar outskirts of the city. It’s a small place, hidden between two apartment buildings, what made them stop was the god awful flashy neon sign and the thought of burgers. When they walked inside, the place reminds them of the small pizza joint back at their campus area, mostly because of how secluded it is and how it only one bored looking employee watching over the counter.

“I think we’re a little overdressed for this place.” Baekhyun tries to stifle his laughter, grabbing the menu. And then he raises his hand and waving it slightly so that he catches the waiter’s attention.

“I’m really sorry Baek,” Chanyeol says with a pout, still bummed out about how their night turned out “I really wanted to take you somewhere nice.” He picks up the menu and glances at it once before putting it down on the table again.

“Don’t sweat it, as long as I get to eat.” Baekhyun says. “And stop pouting.” He jokingly tells Chanyeol who in return smiles at him.

To their surprise, the food comes in fairly quickly. Chanyeol scrutinizes the burger, from its presentation it doesn’t at all appealing, if anything it looks like a mess of buns, beef, cheese and a couple of random vegetables. Baekhyun quickly takes out the cucumber and puts more sauce on top of it.

“We can always just go home if you want.” He offers Baekhyun, still looking a bit deflated although at as bad as he was fifteen minutes prior.

“After I spent at least half an hour getting ready? Yeah, I don’t think so.” He says taking a bite. He pauses for a moment, the burger is actually not half bad, if anything it’s a solid nine point five out of ten. Pleasantly surprised, he urges Chanyeol to eat his enthusiastically.

Chanyeol looks at him confused before, he slowly takes a bite out of his own burger. His eyes widen and smiles once he realizes just how good the food is. He looks at Baekhyun and lets out a small laughter. Both of them are pleasantly surprised, they seem to have hit the jackpot.

Chanyeol says after he swallows a bite, “Now that you’ve mentioned it, you do look extra nice tonight.” He says.

“Glad you finally noticed.” Baekhyun teases.

“You always look good.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at the compliment, how can this nerd say such things when he probably has tomato sauce smothered all over his face. He takes another bite into his burger, making sure to look as unattractive as possible, making Chanyeol snicker.

“Yeah you’re not so bad yourself.” Baekhyun says after he struggles to swallow that particularly big bite. He then takes a sip out of his milkshake to help wash it down.

“Oh really?” The end of Chanyeol’s lips quirks up into a smirk.

“Almost thought you weren’t real the first time I saw you.” To be fair, Baekhyun still thinks the same way even now. Sometimes when Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol, he can’t help but wonder, how is this man even human. And how did someone like Chanyeol, end up being his soulmate.

“You were half-asleep when you first saw me.” Chanyeol points out. He recalls back to that day where he saw Chanyeol on his living room couch, all smiles and handsome. Baekhyun legitimately thought he was in a dream.

“It’s not everyday I get to wake up to a hot guy in my living room.” Baekhyun shrugs as he takes another bite.

“You know, this is the second time you referred to me as ‘hot’.” Chanyeol snorts. “I can’t say I hate it.”

“I’m not blind.” Baekhyun admits, there’s really no reason for him to be in denial about how attractive Chanyeol truly is. “The hot guy with no sense of direction,” he adds offhandedly. “I guess god is not as unfair as I thought he is.”

Chanyeol laughs and throws a straw in his direction.

They finish their meal and they decided to document the moment by taking a couple of selfies, and Baekhyun cannot wait to tell people that he and Chanyeol just came across one of the most delicious burger joints in the city.

Back in the car, Chanyeol buckles his seat belt, turns to him and then asks. “So, where to now?” He places both of his hands on the steering wheel.

“Anywhere, really.” Baekhyun answers.

For tonight, he doesn’t mind even if Chanyeol drives him all the way down to Busan.

They end up driving aimlessly for what must be hours, but it doesn’t feel like that to Baekhyun. Time always flies when he’s with Chanyeol. Maybe it’s because they both talk so much and end up forgetting to keep track of time.

Somewhere downtown, only the sound of the city and Chanyeol tapping the steering wheel fills the car. When Chanyeol stops at a red light, Baekhyun decides to turn on the radio and then starts singing to the random ballad playing a few minutes later.

Sensing Chanyeol’s gaze on him, he turns towards the taller. He sees the taller leaning and resting his head on the steering wheel.  “What?”

“Nothing. I like it when you sing.” His eyes not leaving Baekhyun’s. “You should do it more often, or I dunno perform or something, you have an amazing voice.” He smiles fondly.

“Unlike you, I’m not too keen on the idea of singing in front of others.” Baekhyun says. He shudders at the thought of performing in front of a big crowd.

“Why?”

Singing was always something that’s intimate to him, it was a hobby yes, but it was also the only thing he had for years. Singing in front of others makes him feel exposed and vulnerable and he doesn’t like that.

“Kyungsoo has the privilege of hearing me sing in the shower every morning. He hates it though.” He says, seemingly out of the blue.

“Why do I get the feeling you purposely go off-tune in the shower?” Chanyeol chuckles.

 He does. There have been numerous times when Kyungsoo banged the bathroom door, complaining that Baekhyun should at least let him have his coffee first before breaking his ear drums.

“He’s funny when he’s annoyed, at least it’s funny until he starts burning my eggs on purpose for breakfast.” Baekhyun laughs at the memory of Kyungsoo silently serving him burnt eggs and black coffee.

“Well, I, for one, like hearing you sing. I’m glad you’re comfortable enough to sing in front of me.” Chanyeol glances at him briefly with a smile.

“You say that now, you’ll probably strangle me if you ever hear me scream or sing off-tune.” His voice will either entrance or enrage people, and it all depends on how he decides to use it, Baekhyun considers it a gift.

“Guess we’ll find out, eventually.” Chanyeol says, causing Baekhyun to chuckle and starts singing off-key immediately. Eliciting a loud laughter from both Chanyeol and himself.

♡♡

“Wow. I can’t believe we drove around for who knows how long.” Baekhyun says, realizing that they’re finally back in the university area as he looks out the window.

“Felt like half an hour to me.” Chanyeol says nonchalantly.

“Probably because we were too busy singing to random showtunes and generic pop songs on the radio.” Baekhyun laughs, clearing his throat, voice slightly strained due to the excessive amount of dramatic singing they did. “I had fun though.”

Chanyeol parks in front of Baekhyun’s apartment. “I’m really sorry for missing the reservation, you got all dressed up for nothing.” He says, turning to Baekhyun when the car makes a complete stop.

“I literally just said I had fun.” Baekhyun reassures him.

“You’re probably just saying that to make me feel better.” Chanyeol stubbornly says, leaning back into his seat.

Baekhyun puts his hand on Chanyeol’s thigh and reassures him again. “I’m not! I really did have good time.” A few seconds later, he’s two seconds too late when he realizes that his hand is still on top of Chanyeol’s thigh, and right now, Chanyeol is staring at said hand.

“Baek?” Chanyeol breaks the silence.

“Hm?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Baekhyun feels his eyes widening, without giving it much thought, he nods. He sees Chanyeol leaning in with his eyes closed before he shuts his own eyes and after what felt like the longest second of his life, he feels Chanyeol’s lips on his own. This time around, he feels Chanyeol’s uncertainty in the way he moves his lips against his own, so Baekhyun reassures him by going a step further with his tongue. He hears Chanyeol’s surprised grunt and brings both of his hands to cradle the taller’s face, blood pumping in his ears.

“Hey, Yeol. You wanna, um, come upstairs for a while?” He shyly offers after a few good minutes, looking into Chanyeol’s dilated eyes. If they’re gonna continue to make out for the entire night he’d rather not do it in the cramped space of a car.

Chanyeol responds with a nod, seemingly too dazed out of breath to speak.

With hurried steps, Baekhyun leads Chanyeol to his apartment. He’s just about to put in his keys when Chanyeol pins him against the door, kissing him once more. It takes Baekhyun a couple of seconds to get back to his senses, “At least let me open the door.” he smiles into Chanyeol’s lips.

“You’re. Taking. Too. Long” Chanyeol replies in between kisses. Placing both hands on Baekhyun’s hips.

“So you wanna do this in the hallway instead?” He asks, weakly trying to push Chanyeol away.

“Why not?” He asks. Baekhyun chuckles at Chanyeol’s impatience. At least he’s not the only one slowly slowly losing his mind with each kiss.

“I’d rather not have complaints about public indecency.”

Chanyeol backs off with a pout, giving room for Baekhyun to turn around and face the door once more. Despite that he still can’t get his hands off of Baekhyun, he then wraps his hands arounds Baekhyun’s waist and buries his face into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but to let out a soft sigh, Chanyeol is too impatient and too much for him to handle. After Baekhyun gathers enough sense to actually unlock his door, he peers around, making sure Kyungsoo is nowhere in sight (not wanting to traumatize him) and makes a beeline towards his bedroom, dragging Chanyeol along with him.

Almost immediately, Chanyeol gently pushes him onto the bed and climbs on top of him. The taller’s hand moves from his waist to the side of his hips before it suddenly comes to an abrupt halt. Baekhyun smiles when he feels Chanyeol stiffens, “It’s okay Yeol, you can touch me wherever you like.” He says, throwing the jacket he was wearing to the side.

With Baekhyun giving his full consent, Chanyeol’s hands are now suddenly all over him. His left hand making its way down towards Baekhyun’s thigh, and his right hand sneaks under the fabric of Baekhyun’s shirt, the feeling of Chanyeol’s skin directly on his own makes him feel like he’s on fire.

He pauses for a few seconds, cradling Chanyeol’s face again, studying the hungry expression that has now settled on Chanyeol’s features. The blood pumping in Baekhyun’s ears becomes louder with each passing second, he then moves his hand to the left side of Chanyeol’s chest, curious to know if his heart is thumping just like his own. When he feels Chanyeol’s racing heart against his palm, Baekhyun smiles and wraps his hand against the taller’s neck and pulls him down into another desperate kiss.

Baekhyun then tugs at Chanyeol’s overcoat, annoyed that he’s the only one (slowly) getting disrobed. Chanyeol complies and takes off his jacket, throwing it across the room and continues to plant kisses on his jaw and then he moves to the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. When Chanyeol manages to find his sweet spot, Baekhyun accidentally pulls Chanyeol’s hair, causing him to grunt.

Chanyeol’s left hand begins to fumble with the button of Baekhyun’s jeans when suddenly, at the worst possible moment, the sound of bagpipes filled the previously silent bedroom.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol, who at this point is just staring upwards at Baekhyun’s bedroom ceiling, looking bewildered. He then looks down at Baekhyun with a frown still on his face, it didn’t last long though because a few seconds later, a smile starts to form on Chanyeol’s handsome features and the taller eventually breaks out into laughter.

He plops down next to Baekhyun and covers his face with his right arm, grin still in tact. Baekhyun couldn’t help but also laugh along to the ridiculousness of the situation.

Out of all the nights he decides to practice his bagpipes, his neighbor picks tonight. Baekhyun feels like he could probably strangle the guy to death if he ever discovers who the obnoxious bagpipe enthusiast really is. But right now the only thing that’s dead is the mood.

Chanyeol rolls on his side and gazes directly into Baekhyun’s eyes, causing both of them to break out into another fit of laughter, with the sound of badly rehearsed bagpipes in the background.

Once both of their laughters die down, Chanyeol starts, “I always thought you were joking. About the neighbor with the bagpipes.” He wipes a tear from the corner of his right eye.

Baekhyun snorts, “I don’t blame you.” Even he has hard time believing his own ears sometimes.

“Who the fuck does this at two in the morning?” He says, shifting his weight to lie on his back.

“The dickhead upstairs, apparently.”

“I’m surprised Kyungsoo hasn’t given him an earful.” Chanyeol puts his right arm behind his head, to give him a slightly more comfortable expression.

“Between a bagpipe enthusiast for a neighbor and me, pretty sure he has earplugs by now.” Baekhyun chuckles, “Honestly, I’d strangle him, but I can never figure out who the damn bastard is.”

“He lives right above you, shouldn’t be that hard to figure out?” Chanyeol shifts his head to look at him.

“Kyungsoo and I asked around once, but no one in the building can give a clear description of him other than him being a guy, in his twenties and doesn’t come out much during the day.” Baekhyun licks his lips, which as of right now is still tingling from what had just occurred.

“So you usually just sleep through this whole thing?” He looks back up into the ceiling, cringing slightly when the bagpipe player messes up a note.

“Obviously not. I usually just go watch something in max volume.” At one point, Baekhyun has actually prayed that his neighbor will improve over time, so when he plays, it will at least be bearable and not make Baekhyun want to jump out of his window.

“What do you wanna do now then?” Chanyeol smiles playfully, lying on his side again to look at Baekhyun.

“I wanna say we should go back to where we left off but the bagpipes kinda killed the mood.” Baekhyun stifles his laughter. “What about you? Anything you have in mind?” He turns to face Chanyeol.

Chanyeol laughs again, “Just lying here is kinda nice though.” He says, shifting a little closer to Baekhyun.

“Are you really trying to subtly say that you wanna cuddle until morning?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

Chanyeol only looks at him with those damned puppy dog eyes of his, and remains silent. “Ugh fine. Come here.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, even though he definitely doesn’t hate the idea. “But you’re the big spoon okay?” He scoots as he perfectly fits into Chanyeol’s embrace.

“Whatever you say, Baek.” Chanyeol says into his hair.

♡♡

  
  


The next morning, Baekhyun is stirred awake by the sound of knocking on his bedroom door, he opens his eyes and sees his face only inches apart from Chanyeol. Only this time, he isn’t freaked out by their proximity, if anything, it makes him smile seeing the giant sleeping so peacefully. He is however freaked out when he realizes someone is knocking on his bedroom door. 

He quickly tries to detangle himself from Chanyeol and as a result slightly kicks him off of his bed, waking and startling Chanyeol. Chanyeol then blinks a few times trying to gather what’s currently happening when there’s another set of knocks, this time slightly more impatient.

“Baekhyun do you want toast or-- oh, Chanyeol, I didn’t know you were sleeping over.” Kyungsoo says, opening the door to walk in but stops in his steps when he spots Chanyeol. Eyes wider than usual.

Chanyeol opens his mouth to responds, but Baekhyun answers instead “We were talking and we fell asleep.” He doesn’t know why he felt the need to quickly explain to Kyungsoo. And technically, they did talk until they both fell asleep. You know, other than the part where they almost had sex.

Kyungsoo nods, but continues to look between him and Chanyeol and their disheveled hair. He then looks at Chanyeol’s overcoat and Baekhyun’s jacket which were left laying on his bedroom floor and finally, on Baekhyun’s bed, in what Baekhyun assumes is him checking his sheets.

Baekhyun can feel Chanyeol’s gaze on him before Chanyeol turns his attention to Kyungsoo, “You’re making breakfast? Want some help?” He stands up and grabs his phone from the nightstand.

“That would be great, actually. Baekhyun never helps.” Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol and motioning for Chanyeol to follow him into the kitchen.

“That’s because you told me to never step foot in your kitchen.” Baekhyun defensively yells as Chanyeol closes the bedroom door behind him.

Looking at Chanyeol and Kyungsoo cooking together in the kitchen, Baekhyun can’t help, but think of just much of an adorable couple they could’ve been. He wonders, if he and Chanyeol had never met and Chanyeol feelings’ never changed, would he be Kyungsoo’s happily ever after? Is he responsible for taking this genuinely great guy from his best friend?

Probably not. Baekhyun’s not stupid enough to think that Kyungsoo would ever hold this against him if he were to find out about what’s been going on between him and Chanyeol. But then, why is he still so keen on keeping their relationship a secret? Hell, why is he still keeping the fact that Chanyeol is his fucking soulmate to himself?

He’s obviously extremely attracted to Chanyeol, there’s no denying that, and he does care about the taller quite a lot. Chanyeol himself has made his feelings pretty clear. Under normal circumstances, Baekhyun would’ve asked Chanyeol out right after their second night out. He hates to admit but but Jongdae was right, Chanyeol is one hundred percent his ideal type.

“Earth to Byun Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s deep voice, still heavy from sleep, snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Huh, what?” Baekhyun blinks like an idiot.

“I asked if scrambled eggs and bacon is fine with you?”

“Yeah, of course. You can never go wrong with bacon.” Baekhyun says, he continues to mindlessly stare at the TV to keep his eyes off of his two friends in the kitchen.

Chanyeol nods in acknowledgement and goes back to cooking, “What were you thinking about?” He says.

There he goes again, always wanting to know what’s inside Baekhyun’s head, making him chuckle. “My ideal type.” He tries to lie again, but the truth comes out almost automatically instead. Damn it.

Chanyeol turns to him and Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, Baekhyun’s answer seems to have piqued his interest.

“Do elaborate.” Chanyeol smirks.

Baekhyun scoffs, for someone so down to earth and sweet this fucker sure is full of himself. “Can I at least have my coffee first?” He standing up and grabs a mug from the shelf of the kitchen.

He sits on the dining table and quietly enjoys his coffee, silently thanking god that Chanyeol is too preoccupied with helping Kyungsoo to pester him. He unlocks his phone and sees a text.

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ hey baek-hyung have you seen chanyeol he didn’t come home last night and his phone is off _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ He’s here, currently making breakfast with kyungsoo _

**_Oh Sehun:_ ** _ ok good to know his not dead lololol _

**_Byun Baekhyun:_ ** _ *he’s _

And just like that, Sehun left him on read.

 

♡♡

“So what’s this I hear about Chanyeol still having the hots for Kyungsoo?” Jongdae says to him not more than three days after. Baekhyun cringes, he doesn’t know people still use the phrase ‘having the hots’ when referring to someone.

“Why are we suddenly talking about this?” Baekhyun groans and buries his face into Jongdae’s notebook. Yes, Jongdae’s notebook. He’s currently in a coffee shop helping Jongdae copy Kyungsoo’s biology notes. When Baekhyun agreed, he didn’t think he’ll be copying three months’ worth of material.

“Because Sehun told me he stayed over and they got all domestic and shit. Is that true?” Jongdae says, twirling the pen his hand. He’s been holding and twirling that pen for quite awhile now, and he even attempted to balance it on his nose, but in the past hour, Baekhyun hasn’t actually seen him write with it.

“I guess?” Baekhyun says, deciding to continue to copy Kyungsoo’s biology notes to Jongdae’s notebook. Thank god, Kyungsoo has extremely neat handwriting.

“Huh. I always thought he was moving on a bit too fast. I guess he still has feelings then.” Jongdae offhandedly comments.

Baekhyun feels his eye twitch. “Was he moving on that fast?” He says. He’s really considers on making his handwriting extra ugly, just to spite Jongdae for making him due all the work. After all, he has been told multiple times that he has what most considers incomprehensible handwriting.

“Dude, he went from ‘I don’t care if Kyungsoo’s not my soulmate because I like him so much’ to ‘We’re not right for each other’’ in like a month.” Jongdae continues, “Even Jongin still isn’t over you and you rejected him when? Three months ago?”

Baekhyun throws his pen into the table, startling Jongdae, who raises an eyebrow at him.

“Jongdae, I have something to tell you.” Baekhyun starts, he really can’t keep this to himself any longer. It’s long overdue but keeping this to himself has been slowly killing him, he needs to talk to someone.

“Okay, what is it?” Jongdae says, a confused expression still present on his features.

“But you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. Not even Minseok.” Baekhyun adds. It’s a pretty dangerous bet considering one, Jongdae can’t lie to Minseok physically and two, he willingly tells Minseok everything anyway, but he trusts Jongdae.

Jongdae frowns at him, Baekhyun’s pretty sure he’s already assuming Baekhyun committed a felony or something. “Dude, what’s going--”

“Promise me.”

“Alright, fine. Not even Minseok. Now spill it.” Jongdae leans forward, giving Baekhyun his full attention.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. God where does he even start. “Chanyeol and I...have been, uh, how should I put this? Seeing each other? For the past few weeks.”

Jongdae’s eyes bulge and his jaw slightly drops. “Wait--you’ve been having the hots for him?! And you didn’t tell me? So I was right this whole time?!” He says as a grin slowly forms on his face.

“Yes, yes. You can gloat.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

“Dude that’s great--!”

“There’s something else.” He quickly adds.

“Oh my god, you’re not engaged are you? Because if you are--”

“No, that’s not it.” Baekhyun cuts him off before he goes on a tangent. He takes several moments to pause before he inhales. “He’s...kinda my soulmate.”

It’s really hard to leave Jongdae speechless. He almost always has something to say, even when he doesn’t he’ll make a comment or laugh. But now, Jongdae seems incapable of even constructing a sentence. “What?”

“I found out about a few months ago.” Baekhyun elaborates.

“Are you sure?”

“A hundred percent, I tried lying to him multiple times. Never worked.” Baekhyun says leaning into his chair. He feels slightly relieved now that the cat’s out of the bag, even if it’s only to Jongdae. Realizing that he still has to tell Kyungsoo makes him anxious and he doesn’t want to think about that now.

“Holy shit. Is that why you went full on hermit mode for a month and then dyed your hair?” Jongdae also leans back into seat, placing his palm over mouth.

Baekhyun groans, “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? If you told me I wouldn’t have pestered you--” He says quickly, looking at Baekhyun apologetically.

“It’s okay, I really didn’t know what to make of it back then. I wasn’t even sure if I even had feelings for him at that time.” He shrugs. That was one of the reasons why he held his tongue for so long.

“What about now?” Jongdae quirks an eyebrow, chewing on his pen.

Baekhyun sighs and admits. “Feelings are definitely there, but still not sure what to make of it.”

“What does he think?”

Up until now, Chanyeol has shown no signs of him knowing about the bond that they have. He’s been acting the same way he always have ever since they first met, although he’s much more affectionate and cheesy now. “I don’t think he knows we’re soulmates.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“What good will it do? I still don’t know what I want out of all of this.” Baekhyun fiddles with his pen. He’s kinda hoping that the answer will come to him as he goes along.

Jongdae closes his eyes and crosses his arms to think, it’s probably too much information even for him. “This is great you know, but also it kinda sucks for Jongin.” He starts.

“Oh come on, he can’t like me that much?” Baekhyun whines. A crush should not last this long, but then again it would be different for every person, just because Baekhyun doesn’t have crushes often--or at all--doesn’t mean other people are the same.

“He does though, he’s had a crush on you since freshman year. At least that’s what Chanyeol told me.” Jongdae says, “I didn’t think Chanyeol would be to be the type to go after the guy his friends like though.” He cocks his head to the side.

“He’s not.” Baekhyun reassures. “That’s what I said to him when he first confessed he liked me, but he said he’s willing to be the bad guy in this situation if it meant...us.” He buries his face in his palms again.

“Wow, he’s serious then. About you. From what I’ve seen, Chanyeol values his friendships a lot, and if he’s willing to risk his friendship with Jongin...he’s not playing around.” Jongdae concludes, he then nods to himself.

“I know that,” Baekhyun sighs. “I told him I’m not worth it, but he just won't listen.”

“He probably can’t help it.” Jongdae suddenly smiles softly at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Baekhyun, he’s your soulmate.” Jongdae says, clasping both of his hands together and settling them down on the table as he leans forward. “Of course he’s going to be drawn to you, it’s how these things work. It’s a whole lot more than being not able to lie to them.”

Baekhyun looks at him weirdly, he didn’t know that. Maybe he tunes out anyone who’s ever talked to him about soulmates. Only now does he realize that he knows very little about having and being soulmates. “That’s ridiculous. He was drawn to other people before, and so have I.”

“Yes but that was before you met. It doesn’t matter if you were attracted to someone else before, when you meet your soulmate, you’ll just naturally gravitate towards them.” Jongdae elaborates.

“That’s kinda fucked up if you ask me.” Baekhyun comments.

“Baekhy--”

“What if he was already in a relationship? Is it somehow still acceptable for him to be ‘naturally drawn’ to me? To throw away everything he has with that other person?” He continues. If that’s really the case then just how many lives have been ruined, and how many households were broken up because of  _ soulmates _ ?

Jongdae looks at him confused. “But he’s not in a relationship--Baekhyun, he only had a crush on Kyungsoo. A crush that wasn’t even fully reciprocated, what are you going on about?”

Realizing that he’s no longer talking about Chanyeol’s relationship with Kyungsoo, he waves it off. “Forget about it.” He says.

Unfortunately for him, Jongdae asks him something he’s been dreading this whole time. “Look, I know you were never the biggest fan of soulmates, but are you really saying that you don’t have even the slightest desire to be with Chanyeol like officially as a couple? Is it really okay for you to stay...whatever it is that you guys are right now?”

On top of it all, Baekhyun realizes that sooner or later he and Chanyeol will have to put a label on their relationship. He’s well aware that he can’t keep kissing Chanyeol whenever he wants to. At least, not without defining what they are. Sure, plenty of friends with benefits do what they do but, both his and Chanyeol’s feelings are already tangled into this mess. He groans and hits his head on the table and stays there, he then feels Jongdae ruffling his hair in a sad attempt to comfort him.

♡♡

“Hey Byun, your boyfriend’s waiting for you by the stairs.” Park Sooyoung says to him as she passes him by in the hallway building. Baekhyun turns to her looking confused and, but she keeps walking giggling with her friend Kang Seulgi who gives Baekhyun a thumbs up.

Junmyeon raises an eyebrow, “That tall science kid is here?” He says after witnessing the exchange.

Baekhyun facepalms. What the hell is Chanyeol doing standing around outside his building, again. “For the millionth time, Junmyeon, Chanyeol is not my boyfriend.”

Junmyeon nods at him albeit obviously unconvinced. No one can really blame him, seeing how Chanyeol’s been following Baekhyun a lot these days. However, prior to this, it never really bothered Baekhyun all too much. Sure, he’s irritated by Junmyeon who insists on referring to Chanyeol as his boyfriend, but people outside of his own little circle have started to notice just how close the two of them are. In addition to all of that, Baekhyun and Chanyeol has gone on a lot of walks around campus together. And when he means by a lot, he means  _ a lot _ , not to mention the number of times Chanyeol has insisted on walking him to class. It shouldn’t be this much of a surprise that other students have probably seen them together. Not only that, Baekhyun’s also surprised that the others bothered to even pay attention.

It’s probably because Chanyeol’s popular, plus, it is kinda hard  _ not  _ to notice a guy like Chanyeol. He lets out a sigh, continuing to walk towards the exit with Junmyeon closely following behind him.

He finds Chanyeol standing at the end of the stairs that leads to the art building. “What are you doing here?” He says straight away, slightly startling Chanyeol, who was on his phone with earphones on.

“I came by to see you.” He smiles, taking his earphones off. “Hi, Junmyeon.” He says, waving at Junmyeon.

Junmyeon smiles and nods at Chanyeol in return before he excuses himself to go to his yoga class.

“Just to see me?” Baekhyun asks.

“Yep.” Chanyeol casually says. “You wanna get some ice cream?” He cocks his head as he offers. Oblivious to the other students already staring at them while they talk. It’s suddenly so overbearing to Baekhyun, to sense so many eyes on him while they talked. That encounter with Sooyoung and Seulgi really bursted the peaceful bubble he’s been living in for the last few months.

“Look, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun starts, grabbing his arm and drags him to the side of the stairs where less people would be able to see them. “I think it’s best if we maybe lay low for a while?” He says both as a question and a statement.

A frown slowly forms on Chanyeol’s face. “What do you mean?” Oh boy, Baekhyun already knows Chanyeol isn’t going to like what he has to say but there’s no going back once the dam breaks.

“Well, people are gonna get the wrong idea. A lot of people in my department already think you’re my boyfriend--” He blurts out.

Chanyeol yanks his hands from Baekhyun’s grip. “And what’s wrong with that?” he asks, eyebrows still knitted together.

“Chanyeol, you can’t be serious.” Baekhyun looks at him incredulously.

“Since when do you care about what other people think?” Chanyeol asks, not breaking his eye contact with Baekhyun. Which makes it worse since his eyes makes it so clear that he’s hurt by all this.

“I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.” Baekhyun admits. He has never cared much about what others think of him until literally ten minutes ago, and truthfully he doesn’t know why it’s bothering him so much.

“Why? Is it because you’re scared you might scare off other guys?”

“No! I just don’t want people to think we’re dating when we’re not.” It seems much more real when other people know. It used to be just their little secret, something that even the two of them don’t dare to mention, but now with the eyes of the entire campus on them, Baekhyun’s not sure if he’s ready--or if he even wants it to be real.

“Okay, let’s date then.” Chanyeol says.

Baekhyun gawks at him and sighs. “We already talked about this.”

“No we haven’t.” Chanyeol shakes his head, and crosses his arms. “I told you how I felt and I assumed you had no feelings for me, clearly that’s not the case.”

“How are you so sure I have feelings for you now?” Baekhyun challenges. He’s not sure why but it’s the only thing he manages to say.

“Are you saying you don’t?” Chanyeol bites back.

“You said you were okay with us staying as friends.” Baekhyun frowns, avoiding Chanyeol’s question. Out of fear of blurting out the truth, he avoids answering questions as much as he could.

“That was before you kissed me.” Chanyeol ruffles his own hair out of frustration. He then turns to Baekhyun and looks him directly in the eye. “Baek, don’t string me along just because we’re soulmates.”

Upon hearing the last part of the sentence, Baekhyun blinks. Chanyeol knew? He knows that they were soulmates? Baekhyun suddenly feels as if all of the air has left his lungs, like he’s going to probably drop dead any second now.

“How long have you known?” He asks quietly, with wide eyes.

“Christmas.” Chanyeol admits.

Christmas. Chanyeol has known for months that they were soulmates, he’s known this longer than Baekhyun. He never bothered to mention anything and acted like nothing’s changed.

“And you didn’t tell me?” Baekhyun looks up at him.

“I didn’t want to scare you off…” Chanyeol’s expression softens. That was probably the right call on Chanyeol’s end. Having him telling Baekhyun that they were soulmate would have definitely scared him, just like how he was scared when he found out himself, and scared, just like he is right now in this moment.

“So you knew this entire time? Is that why you started liking me?” Baekhyun couldn’t help but ask.

“What? No!” Chanyeol quickly says. “I like you because well, you’re you. You know I’m not lying to you Baek.” That did nothing, but overwhelm Baekhyun even more. He can’t lie to Chanyeol and Chanyeol can’t lie to him. They’re both forced to be left open and vulnerable to each other and Baekhyun’s not sure if he can handle that

“I can’t do this,” he finally says, turning away from Chanyeol. Baekhyun’s head is about to explode.

“Look, I’ll leave you alone if you tell me,” Chanyeol grabs both of Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Looking at me directly in the eye, that you have no feelings for me and everything we did in the past couple of weeks meant nothing to you.” He finishes, bright big eyes, looking directly into his own.

Baekhyun stares at him, unable to avert his eyes despite the need for him to shy away, so he instead chews on his lower lips. He knows he can’t open his mouth because the truth will come out instead and Baekhyun isn’t ready to deal with the truth, his feelings nor Chanyeol.

Chanyeol holds his expectant gaze, although he slowly lets go of Baekhyun’s shoulder.

Incapable of thinking of any other way to deal with the situation, he did what any other logical person in his situation would do, turn on his heels and run away.

Baekhyun can hear Chanyeol calling his name, and sounding slightly flustered, probably flabbergasted by Baekhyun running away from him. He doesn’t look back for as long as he could but when he does, he only sees students passing by, throwing him a weird look, but no Chanyeol in sight. He lets out a sigh, he needs time. He knows that he’s going to deal with Chanyeol eventually but that day is not going to be today. Right now, he wants a distraction.

And Baekhyun makes the decision that he knows he’s going to regret. After opening his contacts, he scrolls down to find a specific number that he has not even looked at in years, if anything, he should’ve probably deleted this number the moment he cut the person out of his life. He bites his lower lip, as he second guesses his decision, but ultimately, if anyone can distract Baekhyun and keep his mind off of Chanyeol, it’s probably Kim Heechul.

♡♡

His regret, came sooner than expected, it happens later that evening on that very same day. Baekhyun is in the middle of grabbing a glass of water when he hears the front door open, revealing Chanyeol, who unfortunately notices Baekhyun’s disheveled hair and slightly swollen lips.

“Chanyeol? What are you doing here?” Baekhyun says, horrified to find Chanyeol in his apartment in that particular moment.

On the worst possible moment, Heechul walks out of Baekhyun’s room in his unbuttoned. Chanyeol’s eyes shifts to the unfamiliar man, and then back to Baekhyun, his expression unreadable.

“Chanyeol and I are about to catch a movie you wanna come with-- oh. You have company.” Kyungsoo enters the apartment, but stops a few steps behind Chanyeol when he realizes there’s someone else in the room. “Heechul. I haven’t seen you in a while.” He says, his eyebrows knitted together forming a scowl.

“Hey Kyungsoo. Yeah, Baekhyun invited me over to hangout.” Heechul says, taking the glass from Baekhyun’s hand, who right now, can’t seem to avert his eyes from Chanyeol’s stare. “I think the last time I saw you was before Baekhyunnie and I broke up. Freshman year.” He says, sitting down on the dining chair table, drinking his water.

“Can’t imagine why.” Kyungsoo says sarcastically.

Heechul seems to have finally noticed Chanyeol’s presence. “Oh, who’s your friend?”

“Kyungsoo, I don’t feel too well can we take a raincheck on the movie?” Chanyeol quickly says finally turning away from Baekhyun, ignoring Heechul, and turns towards Kyungsoo instead.

Kyungsoo nods. “Uh sure. Feel better soon-”

Chanyeol slams the door on his way out. Before Kyungsoo can even finish his sentence. Still stunned Baekhyun finds himself unable to move from his spot, he can still see and feel the hurt in Chanyeol’s eyes even moments after he’s gone.

“Heechul, I think you should leave. I need to talk to Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo says sternly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He then turns towards Baekhyun. “Privately.” He emphasized. And Heechul leaves without saying much else.

Kyungsoo glowers at Baekhyun. “What the fuck was that about?!” He shouts angrily, his nostrils flaring, and his chest heaving up and down.

“Oh I can’t have people over now?” Baekhyun retaliates. He already knows he’s a shit person, and right now he doesn’t need other people telling him that.

“Baekhyun, you  _ hate  _ Heechul. He cheated on you remember?” Kyungsoo walks towards him with his arms crossed.

“I also remember how good of a fuck he was.” Baekhyun comments quietly.

Kyungsoo shakes his head in disbelief, then he takes a deep breath “This is about Chanyeol, isn’t it?” He says, looking at Baekhyun.

“What?” Baekhyun flinches.

“You’re scared and you’re doing the shittiest thing you can think of to push him away.” Kyungsoo says, his hard expression slowly softing as he makes sense of the situation.

“No, I’m not. I didn’t even know he was coming over.” And it’s true, he didn’t know Chanyeol was coming over. He never intended Chanyeol to even find out about the entire thing, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Chanyeol. But like always, Baekhyun always finds a way to fuck it up and hurts everybody involved.

“Knowing you this was probably a stupid attempt on trying to prove how little Chanyeol matters to you.” Kyungsoo, just like Junmyeon, is almost always right. He invited Heechul over to prove to himself that he can still be attracted to someone other than their soulmate. Obviously it didn’t work and now all he can feel is disgust and regret.

“And why would I do that?” He still says, not wanting to concede just yet.

“Because he’s your soulmate.” Kyungsoo sighs.

Baekhyun eyes’ bulge. “He told you?”

“No.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I suspected, but seeing you acting out like this pretty much confirms everything.”

Baekhyun should’ve known. Kyungsoo is quiet, but he observes everything that goes on around him, he doesn’t say much but he listens. He pretends to be ignorant but in reality, he’ll be the first one to step up and help whenever shit happens. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

“It’s true then?” Kyungsoo asks again, after Baekhyun fails to respond to him. “All this just to prove a point to yourself? Or are you purposely trying to hurt Chanyeol while you’re at it?”

“No of course not--”

“That’s exactly what you did though.” He points out. His words stabs Baekhyun’s heart to the point where he can feel it bleeding out. “You hurt your soulmate who’s been nothing but patient with you. He likes you a lot, I know that much. He talks about you all the time, he knows that you’re nowhere near ready to be in a relationship but he’s willing to wait. And this is what he gets in return?” Kyungsoo says, and each word feels like another set of knives stabbing him. Partially because of how harshly Kyungsoo worded it but mostly because everything he said was true.

“I never asked for a soulmate, okay?” Baekhyun meekly says.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Look, Baekhyun, I always knew what happened to me affected you but...Jihyun was and will always be the best part of my life.” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun immediately looks at Kyungsoo when he hears Jihyun’s name. His best friend has not mentioned the name of his soulmate, Nam Jihyun, in a very long time.

“It was short, but it means the world to me. I don’t know if I’ll ever find love again, but I’m content knowing that I’ll always have the memories of our time together.” Kyungsoo says, his gaze unfocused. It’s almost as if he’s looking into the ghosts of his past and not the person standing in front of him. “People are soulmates for a reason, Baek. Yes, some do awful things because of their soulmates, but people can’t help how they feel.”

People can’t choose who they fall for, and how they feel. They also can’t help it when those feelings change. Baekhyun understands that much more clearly now.

“I would give anything to have Jihyun back, even just for an extra minute with her, but I can’t. That’s why I’m studying so hard to become a doctor, so that people won't have to lose their soulmates like I did.” Kyungsoo adds on. Baekhyun looks at him with a pained expression, he was probably the only one, who knew why Kyungsoo is practically breaking his back trying to become a good doctor. Kyungsoo was ready to give up his own life in order to save others, even if it means that he’ll never fall in love again.

That’s why, this is why, Baekhyun wants Kyungsoo to be the happiest he can be. He deserves it much more than he ever will. Kyungsoo deserves Chanyeol, while he doesn’t.

“Yet here you are, throwing away your soulmate--no, someone who cares so deeply for you out of fear of the unknown.” Kyungsoo continues. Looking at Baekhyun with a soft, concerned expression, with no trace of anger left on his face. “I know it’s scary to feel something so intense for someone in such a short amount of time but is losing Chanyeol really what you want?”

Baekhyun is rendered speechless and looks back down to his feet, and Kyungsoo sits him down on the sofa gently. “He liked you first, you know” Is what Baekhyun managed to say.

“I know. He told me, actually.” He can hear the amusement in Kyungsoo’s voice.

Baekhyun turns to look at him. Blinking away the tears in his eyes. “But then I ruined everything.”

“You can’t possibly think that.” Kyungsoo smiles at him softly,

“If he and I never met that day--”

Kyungsooo says firmly. “Chanyeol and I still won’t work. And he’ll still find his way to you.”

“But you liked him, it’s the first time you’ve opened up to someone ever since Jihyun.” Baekhyun argues.

“Baekhyun, I considered liking him. We got to know each other and we knew we will never work. Stop being so stubborn. I’m sure he’s told you this already. ”Kyungsoo’s right, he’s had this argument with Chanyeol already but he has yet to hear Kyungsoo’s take on the matter.

“How do you know you’ll never work if you don’t at least try?”

“Firstly, he talks too much.” Kyungsoo grins.

Baekhyun snorts, “That’s a part of his charm though…” He says, smiling at the thought of Chanyeol chewing Kyungsoo’s ear off. “I didn’t sleep with Heechul. We started making out, but it didn’t feel right, I was about to kick him out when you and Chanyeol walked in.” Baekhyun admits and Kyungsoo gives him a small smile.

  
“Go to him, I know you like him just as much as he likes you.” Kyungsoo says to him. “Don’t take him or anyone who loves you for granted, Baekhyun. You’ll never know how much time you have with them until you lose them for good.” 

And just like that, Baekhyun finally has the courage to give in. He gives into his feelings, into the fact that he does like Chanyeol, that he wants to be with him. He gives into the fact that he’s been a terrible soulmate--no, person to him and he’s going to spend a lot of time making up for it. Most importantly he gives into himself, to have to courage to let his guard down and just  _ feel. _

He nods and he stands up abruptly, startling Kyungsoo. And he scrambles to his room and pulls on the duvet of his bed, looking for his phone. Once he finds his phone, somehow squished between the mattress and the headboard of his bed, he calls Chanyeol. He needs to apologize, he needs to make everything up to him. He needs to let Chanyeol know how he truly feels.

When Chanyeol doesn’t pick up after Baekhyun’s fifth attempt, he opts to text Chanyeol asking to meet him. Like he expected, Chanyeol also ignores his messages. And Baekhyun doesn’t blame him, if he were Chanyeol he would’ve blocked his own number by now. But right now, Baekhyun’s determined to make things right.

So he calls Sehun instead. “Hey Baek-hyung, what’s up?” He picks up after only two rings.

“Is Chanyeol with you?” Baekhyun says, getting straight to the point.

“Uh...no. Why?”

“He’s not picking up his phone”

“That’s weird. He’s usually glued to his phone.”

“I know that that’s why I’m asking you, dumbass.”

“Well, he hasn’t been home since this morning.” So, Chanyeol hasn’t returned home after he left Baekhyun’s apartment almost forty minutes ago.

Baekhyun runs around campus and calls everyone he knows, asking if they’d caught even so much as glimpse of Chanyeol. He even called Sooyoung and Seulgi out of desperation, but to no avail. Someone with Chanyeol’s size is really hard to miss. Baekhyun tries to catch his breath from all of the running around, and sits down at the nearby bench. If he were trying to avoid himself, where would he go?

It’s so obvious. Chanyeol would’ve went to the one place he knows Baekhyun loathes. Upon this realization Baekhyun gets up from the bench and runs towards his destination.

That is how Baekhyun finds himself standing to the entrance of Potato Head.

He pushes open the front door and scans the room and sighs in relief when he sees Chanyeol sitting on the bar, alone, with his back turned towards Baekhyun.

His heart starts to race as he plucks up the courage to approach Chanyeol. “There you are, I’ve been looking all over the place for you.” Baekhyun says once he is within hearing distance from Chanyeol, he then sits at the stool next to Chanyeol’s.

“I know.” Chanyeol says, eyes fixated on the bottle in front of him.

“Chanyeol--”

“I don’t know what you came here to do, but I’m done.” Chanyeol turns towards him and Baekhyun is rendered silent. “I can’t play along to whatever this sick game you’re playing.” The hurt in his eyes is so clear, and painful, and Baekhyun hates that he’s the cause of it.

“I’m not playing anything--”

“Yeah? Pretty sure you were having fun toying around with me, though. It’s fine if you don’t want a soulmate Baek. But the least you could do is leave me alone.” Chanyeol frowns, he looks tired. He looks so, so tired.

“Chan--”

“Please? Just let me move on and fall in love with someone else. My parents are doing just fine without their soulmates and I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine too. Eventually.” Baekhyun can feel his heart drops. He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want Chanyeol to fall in love with anyone else.

“Your parents aren’t soulmates?” Baekhyun meekly asks. So his parents were probably one of those rare few who either will meet their soulmates really late in life, or worse comes to worst, their soulmate died before they even got the chance to cross paths in life. Baekhyun’s stomach clenches at the thought of losing Chanyeol and never getting the chance to know him like that.

“Yep. Never met their soulmates. Hence why I believe in love outside of soulmates.” Chanyeol says, looking back at the beer bottle in his hand. “And I get it, you made it clear that you hated the idea of soulmates the first time we met. I just thought you it wouldn’t matter soulmate or not as long as you liked me. But obviously, being soulmates is a deal breaker for you.” Chanyeol says.

Baekhyun remains silent for a long, long time. Realizing that he’s too little too late, Baekhyun feels defeated and filled with so much regret. He can already feel the tears welling up in his eyes. “Can we at least stay friends?”

“Sorry, but no. If I ever want a shot at moving on, I can’t have you in my life.” Chanyeol laughs bitterly. “It was nice knowing you though.”

And just like that Baekhyun feels his heart ripping. And it hurts.  _ He deserves it anyway _ , he thinks. This was probably what Chanyeol felt like whenever Baekhyun was awful to him.

What’s worse is that Chanyeol meant every word he said. Baekhyun knows he’s not lying when he says he wants nothing to do with Baekhyun anymore.

With nothing else to say between them, Baekhyun stands up and walks away from Chanyeol for good.

♡♡

Baekhyun uses his sleeves to wipe, or at least, attempt to wipe of his tears when he enters his apartment. He hopes that Kyungsoo is outside or in his room so he doesn’t have to see him this way. But as luck would have it, Kyungsoo is right there, in the kitchen making cheese ramyeon.

He glances at Baekhyun when he notices his presence and his eyes grew wide immediately. “Baekhyun, what happened? Why are you crying?” Kyungsoo says, slightly panicking at the sight of his best friend in tears.

“It’s over, Soo.” Baekhyun says in between sniffles. “He hates me. He wants me out of his life for good.” He launches himself into Kyungsoo’s arms and Kyungsoo stumbles a bit but wraps his hands around his friend as soon as he regains his balance.

“He doesn’t hate you...he needs time.” Kyungsoo rubs his back in an attempt to comfort him. ”Just let him heal and talk to him again.”

If only it were that easy. It took Baekhyun everything he had to approach Chanyeol, and he’ll do it again and again not matter how much harder it becomes, if Chanyeol ever gives him the chance to do so.

“What if he still wants me out of his life?” Baekhyun says into the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck.

“Then you’ll find someone else.” Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun’s heart stops.

Baekhyun doesn’t want anybody else. He realizes that now, always realizing things too little too late.

Kyungsoo seems to know what he’s thinking, “Have faith in Chanyeol, he’s just as stubborn and dumb as you are. After all, he is your other half.” He says, pulling away from Baekhyun and wipes Baekhyun’s cheeks with his hands.

“I don’t blame him. I have been horrible to him this entire time.” Baekhyun says in regret, thinking of all the time and chances Chanyeol has given to him, yet he took every single one of them for granted.

“Then make up for it. Show him that you care about him as much as you say you do.”

Baekhyun nods in response. He doesn’t know if Chanyeol will ever give him another chance at forgiveness, but he’ll never know if he doesn’t at least try. And if he tries and it blows up in his face, he’ll try again, and again and again, until he knows for sure that Chanyeol knows, how much Baekhyun cares for him even if he still doesn’t want Baekhyun to be in his life.

♡♡

 

Not sure on what he should do on a particular hot summer day, Baekhyun decided to follow wherever his feet were heading. Sure enough, he didn’t expect to find himself in front of the ice cream shop Chanyeol showed him during winter. He smiles sadly and then steps inside, hearing the sound of the bell attached to the door jingle. A lot more people were queueing this time around due to the warmer weather. Baekhyun scans the menu and orders a plain vanilla ice cream, he then looks outside the window and spots an empty seat just outside the shop. He sits down and starts eating his ice cream in silence when suddenly a shadow casts over him, blocking the sunlight. 

“You look a bit too depressed for someone eating an ice cream.” A very familiar voice says. A voice that’s been haunting Baekhyun even in his dreams, and a voice that he hasn’t heard for far too long.

Startled, he looks up and low and behold, Chanyeol is standing there, looking down at him from his skyscraper height. He blinks a few times, just to make sure the heat isn’t making him hallucinate things. But he’s not, Park Chanyeol is really there, in front of him in the flesh.

He gives him a small smile, “I was just thinking about how wrong I was.”

“Yeah? What about?” Chanyeol says, sitting down on the empty seat across the table.

“Someone once told me that ice cream tastes better in winter and I kinda called him a fucking dumbass. Turns out, he’s right.” Baekhyun chuckles. “He was right about a lot of things.”

Chanyeol smiles at him. “What changed your mind?”

“Mostly me accepting the fact that I’m too stubborn, and I was scared.” He admits. He’s oddly relaxed, despite him about to open the floodgate of emotions he’s been holding in for so long. Looking back, he’s imagined this scene in his head numerous times, but not once did he ever think it would happen in an ice cream shop. In his mind it involved a lot of crying and begging for forgiveness on his part.

“You were scared?” Chanyeol says, gaze still on him.

“Yeah. My best friend lost someone who was the center of his universe, had to watch them die slowly. In my mind, I couldn’t bear that happening to me, so I just push everyone away, so you know, I can’t lose them if they’re never mine.” Baekhyun licks his ice cream to stop it from melting and dripping onto his hand. This is far too heavy of a conversation for them to be having at an ice cream shop, he feels ridiculous.

“I see. But you’re not scared anymore?” Chanyeol says. He’s not really saying much, just asking questions. But at least he’s  _ talking  _ to Baekhyun and that in itself is already a miracle in Baekhyun’s book.

“Oh I still am, it’s just a different kind of fear.” Baekhyun looks at his ice cream instead of Chanyeol.

“How so?” He leans in.

“I’m more scared of not having the chance to get to know him, not being able to spend every day with him, not being able to laugh at his stupid jokes,” Chanyeol chuckles at this, and Baekhyun continues. “Most of all, I’m scared of not having him in my life.” He looks at Chanyeol. He has to know that Baekhyun means what he says. He’s not pushing anyone away anymore, he’s done doing that. Even though he’s scared shitless, he’ll just have to take that leap, if it meant having Chanyeol back in his life, he’ll do it.

Chanyeol nods jutting out his lower lip slightly, and he then clears his throat. “So anyway, have you talked to Jongdae recently?”

Baekhyun nods, raising an eyebrow at the sudden shift in topic. Chanyeol could not have approached him just to make random small talk about Jongdae, but he can’t pinpoint where this conversation is going.

“Do you happen to know why he just so happens to have an extra cup of iced americano almost every morning?” Chanyeol’s smile grows just a tiny bit bigger, if Baekhyun weren’t intently staring at Chanyeol’s face, he’s sure he would’ve missed it. “With a very specific amount of espresso shots.”

Baekhyun remains silent. Damn it, Chanyeol is on to him. He immediately averts his eyes away from Chanyeol, he stares inside the shop instead.

“And there was something that’s pretty weird too. He’s suddenly studying on his own. Imagine that.” Chanyeol continues. Baekhyun takes a quick glance at Chanyeol and sees him wearing that toothy grin of his. He then shifts his eyes again, this time to the plant behind Chanyeol.

“Yeah, imagine that,” he says. Is the idea of Jongdae voluntarily studying on his own that hard to believe for some people--on second time it is? Baekhyun doesn’t know why he ever thought that Chanyeol would’ve bought that excuse.

“He even made me this comprehensive summary for my chem midterms.”

“Really now?” Baekhyun says, not being able to say much else without outing himself.

“Yeah, it really saved my ass.” Chanyeol crosses his arms. He then shifts in his seat, placing his right leg on top his left. “Weirdly though, his handwriting changed. It looks awfully a lot like yours.”

Baekhyun stiffens. He didn’t expect Chanyeol would recognize his handwriting, not when he has what possibly is the worst and messiest handwriting out of all of their friends.

“Baek--”

“How did you even know it was mine?” He sighs in defeat.

“I could barely read it.” Chanyeol smirks, “You should know Jongdae has a surprisingly distinct curvature to his writing.”

The image of Jongdae’s signature way of writing Js and Gs flashes through his mind and he suddenly hates his friend’s handwriting. “Forgot about that.”

“So what gives?” Chanyeol quirks his head, resting his chin on his palm as he leans in on the table.

“I..just wanted to do something nice? I’ve been pretty shit to you ever since we met. The least I can do is help make your life a little better from the distance.” It was all Baekhyun could come up with during that time, he needed to do something for Chanyeol in some way. But can’t really do much considering they’re not on speaking terms, so he turns to two of his closest friends.

He asked Jongdae to  _ randomly  _ bring Chanyeol coffee whenever he seems tired, but apparently randomly means almost every day, which defeats the entire purpose of making it seem like Jongdae just so happens to have an extra cup with him.

He then asked Jongdae about his Chemistry workload and that’s where Kyungsoo comes into play. Baekhyun spent several nights after his own classes, going through Kyungsoo’s chemistry notes, and making it as detailed as possible. He does realize that halfway through the summary, his handwriting started to look worse and worse but he shrugs it off, if he has to write everything neatly, he won’t be able to give the summary to Chanyeol in time. Once done and once he receives Kyungsoo’s stamp of approval, Baekhyun asked Jongdae to pretend to have made a summary that he can share with the class, but now he realizes he should’ve asked Kyungsoo to do it directly instead. It would have been much less suspicious.

Chanyeol chuckles. “You were kinda terrible sometimes, but you had your moments.” He says. “And besides, that means there’s room for growth.”

“I’m sorry.” Baekhyun says. He should’ve said this a long time ago.

“For what?” Chanyeol asks.

“Everything? For pushing you away, for being an ass, for being your soulmate.” He lists one by one, using his fingers.

“For being my soulmate…?” Chanyeol slowly asks.

“You deserve a better soulmate than me, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun smiles apologetically at him. Chanyeol deserves the world, he deserves someone who can give him the world.

“What makes you think that?” Chanyeol cocks his head.

“You’re hot, girls and guys throw themselves at you, you’re talented, you’re nice, irresistible and you sure as hell deserve more than an emotionally constipated soulmate.” But now, he’s determined to grow into that person who can and will give Chanyeol the world.

“I wouldn’t say I’m irresistible, but I am pretty cute aren’t I?” Chanyeol smirks at him.

“Hm.” Baekhyun responds, playfully rolling his eyes and continues to eat his ice cream.

Chanyeol chuckles, “Baek, have you  _ seen  _ yourself? You’re gorgeous. Maybe if you paid attention you’d know that people are always checking you out. If we’re talking about outside appearances then I’ve hit the lottery.”

Baekhyun’s face heats up at the compliment and he feels his mouth suddenly going dry, so he licks his ice cream again. He’s beyond flattered knowing that Chanyeol finds him attractive but he himself, will probably need time to see himself the way Chanyeol sees him. He sees so much in Baekhyun that he even sees the things that Baekhyun himself is incapable of seeing.

“I don’t have girls  _ and  _ guys lining up to get my number after a gig.” Baekhyun argues, but mainly just to poke fun at Chanyeol.

“That’s because you give them the stink eye before they even make a move on you!” Chanyeol laughs. “So grumpy, yet so cute.”

Baekhyun laughs along with him. “So does this mean you don’t hate me anymore?” He asks a few moments later.

“I never hated you. I admit, I did try, but I can never hate you Baek.” Chanyeol smiles sweetly at him. And Baekhyun feels like he can finally breathe again after so long.

“Why?” He manages to croak out, his voice suddenly stuck in his throat.

“I knew what I was signing up for when I decided I was gonna go after you.” Chanyeol says. “I knew you were a handful but I like that about you. And I know you’re not an asshole, but sometimes you just try so hard to be.” He adds.

Baekhyun nods in agreement, he does go out of his way trying to prove a point, and he always ends up hurting everyone around him, himself included.

“Doesn’t really explain why you’d forgive me, two months ago you were pretty clear you wanted nothing to do with me.” Baekhyun points out. Not really wanting to replay that god awful day in his mind.

Chanyeol remains quiet before he inhales and says. “People deserve second chances.”

“This is probably like my fourth.”

“You get a special soulmate pass. And you did save my ass with that Chemistry paper.”

Baekhyun stifles a laugh. “Dork.”

“I am. But you like me.” Chanyeol leans in, resting his chin on his arm again, flashing Baekhyun another sweet smile.

“Fine. I do.” He does. He likes him so, so much.

“So has your opinion on soulmates changed?” He asks, gesturing for Baekhyun to hand over his ice cream. Afterwards, he takes a bit of the cone. If it were anyone else, Baekhyun would’ve yelled at them, but Chanyeol, he’ll buy Chanyeol twenty ice cream cones if he needed to.

“Yeah. Thanks to you, I guess.” He finally answers Chanyeol’s question.

“Was it my charms? Or my good looks that did it?” Chanyeol teases. Drawing out an ugly snort from Baekhyun.

“It was the fact that it took me literal months to realize you and I were soulmates. I never felt that I needed to lie to you, even about the stupidest shit.” He starts to explain. “The feeling of being completely so at ease, so completely vulnerable to someone else terrified me, hence why I did what I did.”

Baekhyun used to think, being so emotionally unguarded would be a nightmare but with Chanyeol, it doesn’t seem so bad.

“I’ve only seen people’s lives ruined because of soulmates.” He adds on. ”I’m guessing you want to know what they are? I mean you were always curious about why I disliked the idea of soulmates so much.” A lot of people were, but Baekhyun’s never trusted anyone enough, other than Kyungsoo who held his hand through the entire thing, to admit to them entirely why, he used to despise the idea of soulmates so much.

“If you’re willing to tell me.”

Baekhyun sighs as he mentally prepares himself to reopen old wounds that’s buried for so long. “There’s really no specific reason. I guess it kinda started with my parents? They were one of those unlucky few that never met their soulmates so they settled with those who aren’t. That is until they eventually did meet their other half, when I was about eleven.”

“Is that why they got divorced?” Chanyeol asks, eyebrows knitted, giving Baekhyun his full attention.

“Yeah. Then there’s my brother, whose wife left her previous fiance for her soulmate. When they got together they barely even knew each other, pretty sure she was just infatuated with the idea of finding her soulmate. Nevermind the guy she’s been with since high school. People always preach about how soulmates don’t matter until you know, they meet them.” Baekhyun lets out a bitter laugh.

Chanyeol remains silent, but he nods, urging Baekhyun to continue.

“Then there’s Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun swallows, this is probably going to be the hardest part for him to tell. What happened to Jihyun, changed the course both his, and Kyungsoo lives forever. “He used to be considered really lucky you know? He met his soulmate, Jihyun, when we were in elementary school. They were really happy together, until she died almost five years ago. Cancer.”

“That’s terrible…” Chanyeol says. And it truly is terrible, it’s probably one of the worst things that can happen.

“Not only did Kyungsoo have to see the love of his life slowly die, but you’re also telling me that now he has to go through life never being able to feel whole again? A pretty fucked up world we’re living in if you ask me.”

Kyungsoo didn’t even get to graduate highschool with her. Like any other, Jihyun had dreams of her own, she wanted to have a house in the countryside where it’s quiet, Baekhyun knows the only reason she wants to move away from the city is because Kyungsoo’s always complaining about the how it’s too loud all the time. She wanted to become a chef, get into university and despite her illness she always had a positive outlook on life. She was also always insisting that Baekhyun would change his mind when he meets his other half, ‘a little ways down the road, just you wait’ she would say.

She wanted a lot of things out of life, and it’s true that she never got the time to fulfill them, but the one thing she had always wanted was for Kyungsoo to be happy. Just like how Kyungsoo wanted her to be happy until the very end.

“Is that why…?” Chanyeol asks slowly.

“Why I was so disappointed when you said you two didn’t work out? Yeah.” Baekhyun nods. “I thought you were good for him. I know you meant it when you said you were okay being with someone who’s not your soulmate.”

“I did.”

“But then you met me.” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol nods again, finally understanding why Baekhyun was so keen on getting him and Kyungsoo together. Baekhyun still feels somewhat guilty for ruining whatever chance they had but, he knows you can’t just force two people to be together. And it was never his fault that they never clicked romantically. He just hopes somewhere down the road, Kyungsoo will get another chance at love.

“Soulmates are soulmates for a reason, Baek. Unlike you, I always thought that it wasn’t some cosmic bullshit bringing people together you know?” Chanyeol starts after a few moments of silence. “The reason why soulmates can’t lie to each other is, well, probably because you wouldn’t need to when you’re with the right person. Kyungsoo and I weren’t right, we both realized that almost immediately.”

“Is that how you found out? About us being soulmates?” Chanyeol’s has not had the chance to tell him about how he found out.

He nods. “Yup. I thought it was bizarre that I felt so comfortable with you. Like I can tell you the deepest and darkest parts of my life, I felt like I can just be myself, completely honest and vulnerable.”

Oh, it turns out it wasn’t as dramatic for Chanyeol like it was for Baekhyun. No knees trembling and no screaming. Chanyeol just  _ knew _ that his soulmate is sitting in front of him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Baekhyun can’t help but ask.

“Probably the same reason why you didn’t tell me when you found out. I was scared. I didn’t want you to think I was going after you solely because of the fact that you’re my soulmate. And I also kinda thought it didn’t matter, by the time I realized I was pretty in love with you already, I wanted to be with you regardless soulmate or not.”

Baekhyun is just about to take the last bite of his ice cream but then, he stops. “What--”

“Why do you look so surprised? You know how I feel about you.” Chanyeol smiles at him again, as if he didn’t just drop a massive bomb on him.

Baekhyun gawks at him. “Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d  _ love  _ me. We’ve only known each other for what six months?”

Chanyeol shrugs, looking pretty satisfied with himself. “Let’s just say I fell pretty damn hard.”

“Idiot.” Baekhyun shakes his head in disbelief. He looks away towards his hand, suddenly feeling too shy to make eye contact with the man in front of him.

“For you? Yeah, I’ll admit I kinda am.” Oh my god. If Chanyeol doesn’t stop he’s going to run away again, this time out of secondhand embarrassment.

“I still think you deserve better.” He says quietly, fiddling with the remainder of the cone in hand.

“Maybe, but I still only want you.” Chanyeol tilts his head in an attempt to meet Baekhyun’s eyes.

“If you say so.” Baekhyun sighs, and eats the last of his cone.

“Are you saying you’ll be my boyfriend?” Chanyeol beams, he sits up straight.

“Dunno. You never asked. You just kinda made your feelings known.” Baekhyun points out, wiping his hands with a tissue to get rid of the excess ice cream.

“Huh, must’ve been because you pushed me away before I got the chance to ask properly.”

Baekhyun finally looks at him and playfully throws the used tissue at Chanyeol, “I’m sorry, I really am. And here I thought I was forgiven.”

“You are. Ninety percent.” Chanyeol cheekily replies.

“What do I have to do for the last ten percent then? Grovel at your feet?” Baekhyun squints at him. Maybe he should pout instead, there’s no way Chanyeol can resist that.

“No, but you being my boyfriend will suffice.” He says.

Jesus Christ.

“It astounds me how much I’m attracted to you despite the shit that comes out of your mouth.” The things he says really do astound Baekhyun, but he secretly loves it.

“You like it.” Guess it’s not much of a secret after all.

“It is a very pretty mouth…” He says, now shamelessly staring at Chanyeol’s lips. The lips he’s been dying to cover with his.

“Then why don’t you kiss it?”

Baekhyun leans in across the table, pecks him then hurriedly stands up and starts walking away in embarrassment. He hears Chanyeol’s laughter and not two seconds later, Chanyeol grabs his arm and practically yanks him into a hug.

He says something into the warmth of Chanyeol’s chest, or well at least, the fabric of the shirt he’s wearing.

“Hm? What did you say?” Chanyeol says.

“I said I love you, too. You dumb dork.”

Jihyun was right, Baekhyun did find someone he can confide in, joke around with and most of all fall in love with. A best friend who’ll stand by him through his worst and his best. A mentor, that will help him grow into a better person. A lover, who will hold close him even in the coldest of nights. A soulmate, who will change his outlook on life for the better.

It’s only just a little ways down the road.


End file.
